^^ 



.\^^ 



_C-- 



,0o. 



•^c. 



-^'i^ v^ 






1 V -^ 









,^ -n^ 






';/',^ 



-^^ 









< 






"^/-. v^ 



.>' 



A GENERAL 

HISTORY OF EUROPE 

(350-1900) 



A GENERAL 
HISTORY OF EUROPE 



(350-1900) 



/ 



BY 



OLIVER J. THATCHER, Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDI/EVAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 



AND 



FERDINAND SCHWILL, Ph.D. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 



WITH MAPS AND GENEALOGICAL TABLES 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1900 
v. 



7139 

]|ui«i«»»rT»>ICon.». »•• 

JUN 16 1900 

MOeR MVISMMi 

JUN 29 1900 



64478 

Copyright, 1900, bv 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



.T -^1 



TROW DIRECTORY 

PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 

NEW YORK 



n\ 



PREFACE 

The authors of this General History of Europe venture 
to hope that their book will explain itself. The only mat- 
ter concerning which they feel obliged to state their po- 
sition in a prefatory word is the important point of the 
correlation of text-book and literature. They firmly be- 
lieve that the use of any single and unaided text — a prac- 
tice still common in our schools — is a misfortune and a 
calamity, and for that reason they desire to put themselves 
on record in the most definite terms against that ancient 
abuse. Their text consequently is conceived by them as a 
mere framework which the literature accompanying each 
chapter is intended to clothe and elaborate. This liter- 
ature the authors have carefully selected with the needs of 
the beginner in their minds ; they do not wish to weary 
and confuse him with a great mass of material ; they desire 
merely to conduct him a stage or two upon the path of 
iustorical studies, but they are eager that that path should 
b 'le right path. The teacher is therefore very earnestly 
ed to encourage in the pupil wide reading, and the 
f comparison and criticism. A glance over the lit- 
erature of any chapter will show that the more general or 
accessible books come first in order ; then follow more 



vi Preface 

special treatises and occasional original sources. From 
these various kinds of literature the teacher must make his 
selection for the class in accordance with his view of the 
individual pupil's needs and powers. The authors pre- 
sume to suggest in this connection that the most effective 
means of applying the method of study which they have 
outlined is by establishing a small working library in con- 
junction with every class-room. It will be a great day for 
American education when every high-school and academy 
is thus equipped with an historical library. 

The special topics which conclude each chapter are in- 
tended for the more active and original members of the 
class. They will be found to cut deeper in at some point 
of biography or civilization or government, and will afford 
preliminary practice in the line of investigation, exposi- 
tion, and criticism. 

The authors wish also to call particular attention to the 
numerous maps and chronological and genealogical tables 
at the end of the book. The constant use of these by the 
pupils in both the preparation and the recitation of the 
lesson cannot be too strenuously insisted on. 

The University of Chicago, 
May I, 19CX). 



CONTENTS 

THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD 

CHAPTER PA<5^ 

Introduction ^ 

I. The Empire, the Church, and the Inva- 
sions OF the Germans 17 

II. The Reaction of the Empire against the 

Germans 35 

III. The Franks (481-814) ...,.•• 44 

IV. The Dismemberment of the Empire . . 61 
V. England and the Norsemen (802-1070) . 69 

VI. Political History of France (887-1108). 84 

VII. Germany and its Relation to Italy 

(887-1056) 91 

VIII. Feudalism 107 V 

IX. The Growth of the Papacy 123 

X. The Struggle between the Papacy and 

the Empire (1056-1254) i34 

XI. MoNASTiciSM 172 

XII. Mohammed, Mohammedanism, and the 

Crusades 1^2 

XIII. The Growth of the Cities .... 209 

XIV. Italy to the Invasion of Charles VIII. 

(1494) ^^7 



viii Contents 



CHAPTr.U TAGE 

XV. France (i 108-1494); England (1070- 

1485) 223 

XVI. Germany (i 254-1 500) and the Smaller 

States of Europe 248 

XVII. Religious and Intellectual Tenden- 
cies IN THE Renaissance .... 260 



THE MODERN PERIOD 

Introduction 277 

XVIII. The Reformation in Germany to the 

Peace of Augsburg (1555) .... 298 

XIX. The Progress of the Reformation in 
Europe and the Counter - Refor- 
mation OF THE Catholic Church . 311 

XX. Spain under Charles I. (1516-56), 
Known as Emperor Charles V., and 
Philip II. (1556-98); Her World 
Eminence and Her Decay . . -319 

XXI. England under the Tudors (1485- 
1603) ; Final Triumph of the Ref- 
ormation under Elizabeth (1559- 
1603) 325 

XXII. The Revolt of the Netherlands and 

THE Triumph of the Seven United 
Provinces (i 566-1648) 348 

XXIII. The Reformation in France to the 

Religious Settlements of 1598 
(Edict of Nantes) and 1629 . . . 361 



Contents ix 

PAGE 
CHAPTER 

XXIV. The Thirty Years' War and the Peace 

OF Westphalia 37^ 

XXV. England in the Seventeenth Cen- 

tury — The Stuarts, the Puritan 
Revolution, and the Establishment 
OF the Constitutional Monarchy 
Under William III 392 

XXVI. The Ascendancy of France under 

Louis XIV. (1643-17 15) 42o 

XXVII. The Rise of Russia under Peter the 
Great (1689-1725) and Catharine 
THE Great (1762-96); the Decay 
OF Sweden 43^ 

XXVIII. The Rise of Prussia in the Seven- 
teenth AND Eighteenth Centuries. 443 

XXIX. England and France in the Eigh- 
teenth .Century 457 

XXX. The French Revolution and Era of 

Napoleon (1789-1815) 469 

XXXI. The Holy Alliance and the Revolu- 
tions OF 1830 519 

XXXII. The Revolutions of 1848 532 

XXXIII. France under Napoleon III.— The 

Unification of Italy 546 

XXXIV. The Unification of Germany . . .552 

XXXV. Great Britain and Russia . • • • 561 

XXXVI. The General Situation at the Close 

of the Nineteenth Century . . -573 



X Contents 



CHRONOLOGICAL AND GENEALOGICAL 

TABLES 

PAGE 

I. Emperors and Popes 583 

II. The Franks 587 

1. The Merovingian Kings to Dago- 

BERT 1 587 

2. The Dukes of Austrasia (Ancestors 

OF Karl the Great) 587 

III. The Empire 588 

1. The Carolingian House (the Kar- 

lings) 588 

2. The Saxon, Franconian, and Hohen- 

STAUFEN Houses ; the Welfs . . 589 

3. The Houses of Hapsburg and Haps- 

BURG-LORRAINE (AUSTRIA AND SpAIN) 590 

IV. France 591 

1. Later Carolingians and first Capet- 

lans (robertines), showing their 
Connection and Rivalry . . . 591 

2. The Capetians and Collateral 

Branches , 592 

3. The Houses of Bourbon and Bour- 

bon-Orleans 593 

4. The House of Bonaparte .... 593 
V. Spain. The Spanish Bourbons .... 594 

VI. Prussia. The House of Hohenzollern . 594 

VII. Sweden. The Houses of Vasa and Vasa- 

Pfalz-Zweibrucken 595 



Contents xi 

PAGE 

VIII. The Dutch Netherlands. The House of 

Orange-Nassau 595 

IX. Russia. The Houses of Romanoff and 

ROMANOFF-HOLSTEIN-GOTTORP .... 596 

X. England 596 

1. The Saxon Kings of England . . 596 

2. From the Norman Conquest to 

Henry VII 597 

3. The Houses of Tudor, Stuart, and 

Hanover, Showing their Connec- 
tion 598 

INDEX 599 



MAPS 

[At end of Volume\ 

1. Europe, 350 a.d.. Showing the Roman Empire 

and Barbarians. 

2. The Germanic Kingdoms Established on Roman 

Soil. 

3. Kingdom of the Merovingians, Showing Their 

Conquests. 

4. The Empire of Karl the Great, Showing the 

Division of 843. 

5. The Empire in the Time of Otto the Great. 

6. England, 878. 



xii Contents 



7. The Crusades. 

8. France, 1185. 

9. France, 1360. 

10. Europe During the Reformation. 

11. The Netherlands at the Truce of 1609. 

12. Germany at the Commencement of the Thirty 

Years' War. 

13. England and Wales — January i, 1643. 

14. Western Europe, Showing the Principal Changes 

Effected by the Treaties of Utrecht and 
Rastadt, 1 7 13-14. 

15. Europe, Illustrating Wars of Charles XII. and 

Peter the Great. 

16. Europe at the Time of the Greatest Expansion 

of Napoleon's Power, 181 2. 

17. Europe after the Congress of Vienna. 

18. The Balkan Peninsula in the Year 1881. 



LITERATURE ON THE MEDI/EVAL 

PERIOD 

Periods of European History. $1.75 per vol. Macmillan. 
Oman, Europe, pp. 476-918; Tout, Europe, pp. 918-1272. 

Emerton: Introdtiction to the Middle Ages. $1.20. Meduival 
Europe. $1.65. Ginn. 

G. B. Adams : Civilization during the Middle Ages. $2. 50. 
Scribner. 

Bryce: Holy Roman Etnpire. $1.00. Macmillan. 

Stille : Studies in Mediceval History. $2.00, Lippincott. 

Thatcher and Sch will : Europe in the Middle Age. $2.00. Scrib- 
ner. 

I,avisse : Political History of Europe. $1.25. Longmans. 

Hallam : He7a of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. 
$1.50. Harpers. Somewhat antiquated. 

Gibbon : Decline and Fall of the Roman Empi7-c. Edited by J. B. 
Bury. 7 vols. $2.00 per vol. Macmillan. 

Guizot : History of Civilization in France. 3 vols. $1.00 per 
vol. History of Civilization in Europe. $1.00. 

Epochs OF Modern History. $1.00 per vol. Scribner. Among 
them : 
Church : The Beginnings of the Middle Ages. Johnson : The 
Normans in Europe. Cox : The Crusades. Stubbs : The 
Early Plantagenets. Warburton : Edward III. Gairdner : 
The Houses of Lancaster and York. 

Ten Epochs OF Church History. Edited by John Fulton. $2.00. 
Scribner. Among them : 
Waterman : Post-Apostolic Age. Du Bose : Ecumenical Councils. 
Wells: Age of Charlemagne. Vincent: Age of Hi Ide brand. 

xiii 



xiv Literature on the Mcdkcval Period 

Ludlow : Age of the Crusades. Van Dyke : Age of the Renais- 
sance. Locke : Age of the Great Western Schism. 

Lavisse et Rambaud : Histoire GM^rale du IVe Sihle h nos jours. 
Colin et Cie., Paris. Vols L-IV. deal with the Middle Age, 
About $3.00 per vol. 
Assmann : Geschichte dcs Mittelalters. Second edition by Meyer. 
About $5.00. Braunschweig, Germany. 

Epochs of Church History. Edited by Mandell Creighton. 
$0 80 per vol. Oxford University Press. The following deal 
with Mediaeval subjects : Balzani, Popes and Ilohcnstaufen. 
Eroderick : History of the University of Oxford. Carr : The 
Church and the Empire. Gwatkin : The Arian Controversy. 
Hunt: The English Church in the Middle Ages. Mullinger : 
History of the University of Cambridge. Poole : Wycliffe and 
the Early Movements of Reform. Stephens : Plildebrand and 
his Times. Tozer : The Church and the Eastern E??tpire. 

Heroes of the Nations. $1.50 per vol. Putnam. Among 
them: Hodgkin : Theodoric. Sergeant: ll'yclijf. Beazeley : 
Prince Henry the Navigator. Mrs. Oliphant : Jeanne d'Arc. 
Armstrong : Lorenzo de'' Medici. Gardner : Julian the Phi- 
losopher. 

HiSTORiKS ok the Church : 

Sohm : Outlines of Church History. $1.10. Macmillan. 

Kurtz : History of the Christian Church. 3 vols. $2.00 per 

vol. Funk & Wagnalls. 
Fisher: History of the Christian Church. $3.50. Scribner. 
Alzog : Manual of Universal Church History. 3 vols. $3-50 

per vol. Robert Clarke & Co. Vol. \\. deals with the Middle 

Age. Roman Catholic. 
Gieseler : History of the Christian Church. 5 vols. $2. 50 per 

vol. Harper. 
Moeller : History of the Christian Church. 2 vols. $3-75 per 

vol. Macmillan. 
Milman : History of Latin Christianity. 8 vols, in 4. $6.00. 

Armstrong. 
Schafif: History of the Christian Church. Vols. HL-IV., 311 

A. D., to 1073. $4.00 per vol. Scribner. 
Greenwood: Cathedra Petri. A Political History of the Great Latin 

Patriarchate. 6 vols. London, 1856-72. 14 sh. per vol. 



Literature on the Mediaval Period xv 

The following works deal with interesting phases of Mediaeval life: 
Baring-Gould : Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. $1.25, 

Longmans. 
Hecker: The Black Death. $0.10. Cassell. 
Abrahams: Jezvish Life in the Middle Ages. $1.75. Macmil- 

lan. 
Clyde Furst : A Group of Old Authors. $1.00. E. W. Jacobs 

&Co. 

For Dates and Chronology : 

Ploetz : Epitovte of Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern History. 

$3.00. Houghton. 
Nichol : Tables of Etiropean History, Literature and Art, 200-1888. 

$2.25. Macmillan. 
Hassall : Hand-book of European History, 476-1871. $2.25. 

Macmillan. 
George : Genealogical Tables, $3.00. Clarendon Press. 

Sources in Translation : 

Several volumes in BoHN's Library (Macmillan), contain transla- 
tions of various Mediaeval Chronicles. $1.50 per vol. 

Henderson : Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages. 
$1.50. Macmillan. (Badly translated.) 

Translations and Reprints from the Original Sou7res of European 
History. The University of Pennsylvania. 8 vols. Single 
pamphlets, 10 to 25 cents each. Bound vols. $1.25 each. 
Contains documents bearing on the crusades, towns, gilds, 
student life, monasticism, life of the people, the manor, sta- 
tistics, feudalism, forms of trials, laws, etc. The documents 
illustrating English History are also bound in one volume, 
those concerning Mediaeval Europe, in another. 

Jones : Studies in European History. $0.60. J. H. Miller, Lin- 
coln, Neb. 

Colby: Selections from the So7trces of English History. $1.50. 
Longmans. 

Gee and Hardy : Documents Illustrative of English Church His- 
tory. $2.00. Macmillan. 

For Maps : 

Droysen : Historischer Handatlas. $8.35. Lemcke & Buechner, 
New York. 



xvi Literature on the Medicrz'al Period 

Perthes : Foci-el J //as of Mediceval and Modern Europe. $0.90. 

Lemcke & Buechner, New York. 
Roggero : Carte Cieografiche in Rilievo. (Relief maps of many 

European countries.) 2 francs. G. B. Paravia & Co., Rome, 

Milan. 

For Bibliography see further : 

Allen: History Topics. $0.25. Heath & Co. Contains lists of 

reference books. 
Adams: Manual of Historical Literature. $2.50. Harpers. 



PART I 

THE MEDItEVAL period 



tory. 



THE MEDIAEVAL PERIOD 



INTRODUCTION 

LITERATURE.— Gibbon, Rmuan Einpire. Chaps. I. and II. 
Capes, Tke Early Empire. $i.oo. Scribner. 
'Bury, The Roma7i Empire. $1.50. Harper. 
V.\ngs\ey, The Ro»!a>i a>td the Teuion. $1.25. Macmillan. 
Deniker, The Races of Man : An Outline of Anthropology ami Ethnog- 
raphy. $1.50. Scribner. 

Fisher, Beginnings of Christiafiity. $2.50. Scribner. 
Uhlhorn, Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism. $2.50. Scribner. 
Bury, The Later Roman Empire (395-800). 2 vols. $5. 00. Macmil- 
lan. 

The whole course of history is very conveniently divided The contin- 
into three periods — the Ancient, the Mediaeval, and the torv° '^' 
Modern. Generally, fixed dates have been assigned for 
the beginning and end of each of these. They have then 
been further divided and subdivided, and each division has 
received a particular name. While this has been more or 
less convenient and justifiable, the divisions have often 
been treated so mechanically as to make a totally wrong 
impression, especially on the minds of students who are just 
beginning the study ; for if there is anything that is firmly 
held by all good historians to-day, it is the continuity of 
history. There are no real breaks in its course. Every 
age is a preparation for, and an introduction to, the next. 
One period grows into another so gradually and naturally 
that the people who live in the time of transition are often 
unconscious of the fact that a new period is beginning. 
Certain events may well be said to be epoch-making, but 

I 



The Mediccval Period 



But divis- 
ions are 
convenient 
and justifi- 
able. 



Limits of 
the period, 
350-1500. 



in spite of that, their full effect is not felt at once. They 
slowly modify the existing order of things, gradually dis- 
placing the old by tlie new. The world is never actually 
revolutionized in a day. 

However, it is not wrong to separate history into such 
periods, for different interests prevail at different times, 
and, therefore, one period may have a very different char- 
acter from that of another. ]5ut in making all such di- 
visions two things ought to be carefully guarded against : 
fixed boundaries sliould not be assigned to them, and they 
should not be treated as if their predominant interest were 
their only interest. No one interest can absorb the wliole 
life of a period. For several centuries the life of Europe 
has been too complex to admit of its being adequately 
treated from only one point of view. 

The terms " Mediaeval " and " Middle Age " have been 
used because of their convenience. The invasions of the 
barbarians which began on a grand scale in the fourth cen- 
tury brought about the great change which was the begin- 
ning of the Middle Age. Its end is not perhaps so easily 
determined, but the period from 1450 to 1550 is marked 
by such movements as the great religious revolution, which 
involved all western Europe and was productive of many 
changes, the growth of absolutism in Europe, the changes 
in the practical government of many of the countries, the 
birth of political science, the multiplication of interna- 
tional relations, and the extension of industry and com- 
merce, so that we may .safely say that the Middle Age 
should end somewhere aliout that time. At any rate a 
convenient place may there be found where one may stop 
and mark the failing of old, and the appearance of new, 
tendencies and characteristics. 

A comparison of the map of Europe in the fourth century 
of our era with that of the same country in the sixteenth 



Introduction 



century^ will give the best idea of the changes that took Europe 350 

place there during the Middle Age. Such a comparison ^^^^ ^^^ 

would suggest that all these changes could be grouped Europe 1500 

-AD 
under four heads, namely : those in the political system, in 

language, in religion, and in civilization. 

The first map shows but two grand divisions : the 
Roman empire and the barbarians. On the second, the 
barbarians have almost disappeared, and the empire, while 
it has a nominal existence, is not at all what it was. In Evident 
its stead and in the place of the barbarians, there are many ques^ons 
separate and independent states and different nations. One suggested 
asks instinctively : What has become of the empire ? Where ^' 

are the barbarians ? How did these new states arise ? What 
is the origin of these new nationalities ? 

The linguistic changes suggested by the maps are quite 
as striking. Latin and Greek were the only languages in 
existence in Europe in the earlier time. The rude dialects 
of the barbarians were not regarded as languages, and were 
unfit for literary purposes. In the sixteenth century Greek 
was spoken in a limited territory, and Latin had become 
the language of the educated only, while the barbarian 
tongues had developed into literary languages. 

Religiously, the changes are sweeping. At the beginning 
of the fourth century Europe was still prevailingly heathen. 
Christianity was widely spread, but its adherents were 
largely in the minority. In the sixteenth century, how- 
ever, heathenism was nominally, at least, almost destroyed 
in Europe. In its stead there was Christianity in two great 
types: the Roman Catholic and the Greek, while a third 
new type, to be known as Protestantism, was about to be 
produced. Besides Christianity we find a part of Europe 
under the domination of Mohammedanism. How were 



1 The changes will become still more apparent if a map of Europe in 
ithe nineteenth century be used in the comparison indicated. 



The MedicBval Period 



General 
mention of 
important 
topics. 



Empire. 
Papacy. 



the barbarians of luirope Christianized, we ask ? How 
were the different types of Christianity produced ? What 
separated the Greek from the Latin Churcli ? What was the 
origin of Mohammedanism ? What are its tenets and char- 
acter ? How did it spread, and what has been its history ? 
What influence has it had on Europe ? And what have been 
the relations between Christianity and Mohammedanism? 

The changes in civilization were also radical. Civili- 
zation had passed far beyond the Rhine and the Danube, 
and there were already indications that its centre was soon 
to be changed from the south to the north. Italy, Spain, 
and southern France were still in advance in the sixteenth 
century ; but England, northern France, and Germany 
were showing the characteristics which should eventually 
enable them to assume the leadership in art, science, litera- 
ture, manufactures, and in nearly all that goes to make up 
the highest and best civilization. Here, too, questions 
arise. What did the rest of Europe receive from Greece 
and Rome? How was this inheritance transmitted ? How 
has it been increased and modified? How were the bar- 
barians influenced by the art, literature, architecture, law, 
customs, modes of thought, and life of the Greeks and 
Romans? What new ideas and fresh impulses have been 
given by the various barbarian peoples that have succes- 
sively been brought in as factors in the progress and devel- 
opment of Europe? 

The Middle .'\ge is the birth-period of the modern states 
of Europe. We shall study the successive periods of decay 
and revival in the empire ; its ineffectual efforts to carry 
on the work of Rome in destroying the sense of diff"erence 
in race, and to make all Europe one people; and its bitter 
struggle with its new rival, the papacy, which ended 
practically in the ruin of both. We shall follow the 
barbarians in their migrations and invasions, and watch 



Introduction 



them as they form new states and slowly learn of Rome the Nations and 
elements of civilization. We shall see them come to na- states, 
tional self-consciousness, exhibiting all the signs of a proud 
national sense, gradually but stubbornly resisting the inter- 
ference of both emperor and pope in their affairs, and 
finally, throwing off all allegiance to both, becoming fully 
independent and acknowledging their responsibility to no 
power outside of themselves. Along with this national 
differentiation goes the development of the barbarian dia- 
lects into vigorous languages, each characteristic of the 
people to which it belongs. 

We shall study the spread of Christianity, its ideals and 
its two most important institutions, monasticism and pap- 
acy. The monks of the west played a most important part 
in Christianizing and civilizing the peoples of Europe, and 
the bishops of Rome came to look upon themselves as the 
successors, not only of Peter, but also of the Caesars, claim- 
ing all power, both spiritual and temporal. The Church The Church, 
occupies, therefore, a prominent place in the history of the 
Middle Age. 

Mohammedanism was for some time a formidable oppo- 
nent of Christianity even in Europe. It set for itself the task 
of conquering the world. It made many determined efforts 
to establish itself firmly in Europe. The eastern question Mohamme- 
was an old one, even in the Middle Age, and the invasions 
of the Mohammedans into Europe and the counter-inva- 
sions of the Christians (the crusades) are all so many epi- 
sodes in its history. 

By invading and settling in the empire the barbarians 
came under the schooling of the Romans. They destroyed 
much, but they also learned much. The elements of the 
the Grgeco-Roman civilization Avere preserved ; its art, Progress in 
laws, and ideas were slowly adopted and modified by the 
invading peoples. We shall see how this rich legacy was 



danism. 



civilization. 



The Mediccval Period 



preserved and gradually made the property of all the peo- 
ples of Europe, and we shall study the progress which they 
have made in civilization. 

These are some of the problems with which the history 
of the Middle Age is concerned ; they will be treated in 
their appropriate places. We shall first take a kind of in- 
ventory of the factors involved, and these are Europe 
I. EUROPE, (the land itself in its physical and climatic features) and 
its peoples. 

The general contour of Europe has greatly influenced its 
history. It is, therefore, nece.ssary to study its mountain sys- 
tems, its plains, its coast and river systems, and its climate. 
On the east, and coinciding in general with the boun- 
dary between Asia and Europe, are the Ural Mountains. 
The influ- They, with the Caucasus range between the Black and 
nTountain Caspian Seas, form a barrier to easy communication be- 
ranges. tween the east and the west, and so have forced travel and 

commerce, as well as invading peoples and armies, to fol- 
low certain well-defined routes. The Alps and the Pyre- 
nees have served much the same purpose in the south. They 
have prevented the fusion of the peoples to the north with 
those to the south, and have made futile all the many at- 
tempts to bring and keep them under one government. 
They have played important parts in the differentiation, 
spread, and development of the various nations about them. 
Their passes being few and difficult, they have hindered 
intercourse and have prevented interference, and so each 
people has been left more exclusively to itself to work out 
its own character and destiny. Even in the small physical 
divisions of Europe, mountains have done much to isolate 
and divide those whom everything else has sought to fuse 
and unite. They have helped perpetuate tribal and racial 
differences in Scandinavia, in Germany, in Austria, and 
especially in the Balkan peninsula, Italy, Spain, and For- 



Introduction 



tugal. There can be no doubt that the mountains of these 
countries still make the problems of their respective govern- 
ments more difficult. They have been constant and efficient 
barriers to the formation of extensive states and govern- 
ments in western Europe. 

On the other hand, the great central plains offer every The plains 
opportunity for the homogeneous development of their in- ° i^urope. 
habitants and for the formation of governments vidth exten- 
sive sway. Being adapted to the occupation of grazing, 
agriculture, and similar pursuits, they determined the earli- 
est occupations of the people. So long as the number of 
their inhabitants was small, the great extent of their areas 
favored the continued separation of the nomadic tribes that 
wandered over them ; and with increasing population the 
peoples were more easily brought together and subjected to 
the influence of the same ideas, whether political, social, or 
religious. 

Turning to the study of its coast we note that Europe it- 
self is essentially a peninsula, and is besides deeply indented 
by arms of the sea, so that it has a large extent of coast Coast line 
line. Its two great inland seas offer, because of their calm- seas, 
ness, excellent opportunities for the growth of commerce. 
It is not accidental that European commerce developed first, 
and had its chief seats, around the Mediterranean and the 
Baltic. 

As if to facilitate communication, Europe is traversed 
from north to south by many rivers, which in the Middle Rivers. 
Age were the highways of travel and traffic. The Rhine 
and the rivers of France are connected with each other and 
with the Rhone and its tributaries by a short portage ; in 
the same way the Rhine, the Main, the Elbe, and the 
Oder are connected with the Danube ; likewise the Vis- 
tula, the Niemen, and the Duna, with the Dniester, the 
Dnieper, the Don, and the Volga. In this way nature 



8 



The Mcdiaval Period 



Climate. 



2. THE 
PEOPLES. 



A. THE IN- 
HABITANTS 
OF THE 
EMPIRE. 



Rome civil- 
ized the 
conquered 
peoples. 



has done much to promote intercourse in Europe. A 
radically different arrangement of the rivers of Europe 
would have affected its history in a corresponding way. 
Especially the districts about the mouths of the rivers were 
likely to be hastened in their development because of their 
greater opportunities for commerce and the advantages to 
be derived therefrom. The national existence of Portugal, 
Holland, and Belgium is due in some measure to the fact 
that they lie about the mouths of great rivers. 

The climate of a country influences its people in many 
ways. Long and cold winters make the conditions of life 
in the north much more difficult than in the south, where 
unaided nature does almost everything. In this way the 
habits of the people, their dress, social life, and architect- 
ure, public as well as private, are greatly influenced by the 
widely varying climatic conditions that prevail in the vari- 
ous parts of Europe. 

In the third century the Roman empire extended from 
the Atlantic in the west to the Euphrates in the east ; from 
tlie Sahara in the south to the Danube, Main, and Rhine 
in the north. Britain also (the modern England) had been 
added to this territory. But since the beginning of the 
Christian era, the boundaries of the empire had not been 
greatly enlarged, for the task of defending the frontiers, 
rapidly becoming more difficult, left successive emperors 
little time to think of foreign conquests. 

Within this vast empire was to be found a great variety 
of peoples, differing in race, language, customs, and relig- 
ion. The policy of Rome was to give all these peoples her 
own civilization as fast as they were able to receive it. As 
soon as the conquest of a province had been made, influ- 
ences were set to work to Romanize its inhabitants. This 
great work of Romanization and civilization was practical- 
ly completed when, in 215 a.d., Caracalla issued an edict 



Introduction 



making all the free inhabitants of the empire citizens of 
Rome. There were still, of course, many differences ex- 
isting between the peoples of the various provinces, but they 
had all received the elements of Roman culture, and, since 
the many agencies for diffusing the Roman civilization were 
still in operation, they were all approaching the same high 
level which Rome herself had reached. 

The inhabitants of the emi)ire were divided into four The people 
classes : slaves, plebs, curials, and senators ; but within each classes *" ° 
of these four divisions there were various grades and shades 
of difference. The lot of the slaves was gradually growing 
better. In the country it became customary to enroll 
them, thus attaching them to the soil, from which they Slaves, 
could not be separated, and with which they were bought 
and sold. Further, masters were forbidden to kill their 
slaves or to separate a slave from his wife and children. 

To the class of plebs belonged all the free common Plebs. 
people, whether small freeholders, tradesmen, laborers, or 
artisans. The freeholders were diminishing in numbers. 
Their lands were consumed by the increasing taxes and 
they themselves either became serfs or ran away to the 
towns. The majority of the inhabitants of the cities and 
towns classified as plebs were free, but they had no political 
rights. 

All who possessed twenty-five acres of land, or its equiv- Curials. 
alent, were regarded as " curials." On these fell the bur- 
dens of office-holding and the taxes, for the collection of 
which they were made responsible. 

The ranks of the senatorial class were constantly increas- 
ing by the addition of all those who for any reason received 
the title of senator, or who were appointed by the emperor 
to one of the high offices. The senatorial honor was hered- Senators, 
itary. The senators, having most of the soil in their pos- 
session, were the richest people of the empire. Since they 



lo The Mediccral Period 

enjoyed exceptional privileges and immunities, the lot of 
the curials was made more grievous. 

For the support of his army, his court, and the great 
number of clerks made necessary by the bureaucratic form 
of government, the emperor had to have immense sums of 
money, for the purpose of raising which many kinds of 
Taxes. taxes were introduced. Taxes w-ere levied on both lands 

and persons ; on all sorts of manufacturing industries ; on 
heirs, when they came into possession of tlicir estates; on 
slaves when set free ; and on the amount of tlie sales made 
by merchants. Tolls were collected on the highways and 
at bridges; duties at the city gates and in the harbors. 
Besides the above taxes, there were many kinds of special 
taxes, burdens, and services, such as the supplying of food, 
clothing, and quarters for the army; horses and wagons for 
the imperial use whenever demanded ; and repairing of the 
roads, bridges, and temples. Most oppressive of all, per- 
haps, was the dishonesty of the officials, who, to enrich 
themselves, often exacted far more than even the very large 
sums which the emperor required. 

It was impossible that this should not bankrupt the em- 
pire. The cities were the first to suffer. As the senatorial 
class, the army, i)rofessors of rhetoric, and the clergy were 
largely freed from taxation, the whole burden fell on the 
Effects on curials, who became oppressors in order to collect the vast 
the curials. gj^-uj required of them. Finally, when the curials were 
bankrupt and could no longer pay the taxes, they at- 
tempted in every way to escape from their class. Some of 
them succeeded in rising into the senatorial ranks ; many 
of them deserted their lands and became slaves, or entered 
the army or the Church. The emperors, trying to prevent 
this, often seized the curial who had run away and com- 
pelled him to take up his old burden again. The curial 
was forbidden by law to try to change his position, but in 



Introduction ii 



spite of this many of them surrendered their lands to some 
rich neighbor and received them back on condition of the 
payment of certain taxes, and the rendering of certain ser- 
vices. This was a form of land-tenure and social relation 
very similar to that common in feudalism of a later day. 

In the fourth century a.d. the Kelts held Gaul (mod- b. the 
ern France) and the islands of Great Britain. Four or 
five hundred years before Christ, they had extended as far 
east as the Weser in the north, and occupied much territory 
in the centre of Europe. Evidence of this is the fact that 
Bohemia derived its name from its Keltic inhabitants, the 
Boii. But the Kelts slowly withdrew before the Germans, 
until the Rhine became the boundary between the two 
peoples. The Kelts were never all united in one great 
state, but existed in separate tribes. Each tribe formed a 
state and was governed by an aristocracy. The people had Tribal gov- 
no part in the government, but were treated by the ruling ^''""^^" • 
class as slaves. The nobility was divided into two classes, 
the religious and the secular. The religious nobility Avere 
the Druids, a caste of priests who controlled all sacrifices, 
both public and private, and who were also judges and final 
authorities in all other matters. Their word was law, and 
whoever refused them obedience was put under their ban, 
which had almost the same meaning as the papal ban a few 
centuries later. They had many gods, to whom they of- 
fered human sacrifices.^ 

The Kelts had large, strong, and beautiful bodies, as may 
be seen from the famous statue in Rome, " The Dying 
Gaul" (formerly known as the "Dying Gladiator"). 
They were brave, dashing warriors, fond of music, espe- Keltic 
cially of the shrill, martial kind, with which they went into icttlc ' 
battle. They were easily moved by eloquent speech and 



' Cassar, B. G. , vi. , ii 19, gives a good description of the Kelts. 



12 The Mediceval Period 



had a love for poetry. Their language was well -developed 
and capable of expressing a wide range of thought and 
emotion. They loved bright and gay colors, and were 
noted for the liveliness rather than for the persistency of 
their feelings and emotions. They were restless, sprightly, 
full of activity, and capable of the greatest enthusiasm for, 
and devotion to, a popular leader, but they were fickle and 
unreliable if their ardor was once quenched by disaster. 
At the beginning of our period the Kelts who occupied 
Gaul and Britain (the present f^ngland) were thoroughly 
Romanized. To a great extent they had forgotten their 
language and spoke Latin. Many cities had sprung up 
among them which w^ere well supplied with temples, baths, 
and theatres, and were in all respects Roman. But the 
Kelts of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland were still barbarian, 
and hostile to Rome. 

c. THE At the beginning of our period the Germans occupied 

Scandinavia, and nearly all the land between the Rhine 
and the Vistula, and the Baltic and the Danube. Since 
the times of Csesar and Tacitus, who were the first Roman 
authors to devote much attention to the Germans, many 

Their loca- changes had taken place among them. Some of them had 
changed their location ; new groups had been formed, and 
they were known by new names. The Goths had left the 
Vistula and were now spread over a great stretch of terri- 
tory to the north of the Black Sea and the lower Danube. 
Other tribes were moving or spreading out in the same 
direction. Great masses of Germans and other peoples 
were crowded together along the whole northern frontier of 
the empire, and the danger of a barbarian invasion was 
rapidly growing greater. 

Divisions. Tacitus ("Germania," ii.) says that the Germans were 

divided into three great branches : the Ingoevones, who 
lived nearest the ocean ; the Hermiones, who lived in the 



Introduction 13 



"middle; " and the Istaevones, who included all the rest. 
These three names had now been replaced by others, such 
as Franks, Alamanni, and Saxons. Neither these nations 
nor those mentioned by Tacitus actually included all the 
Germans. They formed rather the great division which 
may be called the West Germans. Besides these there 
were those of the north, afterward known as the Danes, 
Norwegians, and Swedes, and those of the east : the Goths, 
Vandals, and others. 

In their government the Germans were democratic. They Their gov- 
had a well-defined system of local self-government. There 
were three political divisions: the whole tribe, or nation; • 
the gai/, or county; and the village. All matters that 
concerned only the village were discussed and settled by 
all the freemen of the village in a public meeting. Like- 
wise the affairs of the gau were administered by the free- 
men of the gau, and matters that concerned the whole 
nation were decided by an assembly of all the freemen of 
the tribe. In social rank, there were three classes — nobles, 
freemen, and slaves. The nobles had certain advantages, 
but in the assemblies the vote of a freeman equalled that of 
a nobleman. 

It was customary among the Germans for the young men 
to attach themselves to some man of tried courage and 
military ability (the comitatus or gefolge), with whom Gefolge. 
they lived, and whom they accompanied on all his expedi- 
tions. Such warrior-chiefs were proud of having a large 
number of young men about them, for it added to their 
dignity and increased their power in many ways. The re- 
lation between a leader and a follower was entirely volun- 
tary, and consequently honorable to both. It might be 
terminated at the will of either party. 

The religion of the Germans was a kind of nature-wor- 
ship. The principal objects of their reverence were groves, 



14 



The Mcdiccval Period 



Religion 
and occupa- 
tions. 



Their quali- 
ties. 



D. THE 
SLAVS. 



Their loca- 
tion. 



Govern- 
ment. 



trees, caves, and uncommon natural phenomena. They had 
no priest-caste. They lived by cattle-raising, agriculture, 
and hunting, the labor being performed principally by 
slaves and women. It was characteristic of them that they 
were unwilling to live in compactly built towns; their 
houses being generally some distance apart, formed a strag- 
gling village. The Romans were impressed with the great 
size and power of their bodies, the ruddiness of their faces, 
and the light color of their hair. 

They had some very prominent faults, such as a too great 
love of war, of the cup, and of the dice. They became so 
infatuated with gambling that, after losing all their property, 
they staked their wives and children, and if these were lost, 
they risked even their own liberty. The Germans boasted 
of their faithfulness to every obligation. So true were they 
to their word that if they lost their freedom in gambling 
they willingly yielded to their new master, and permitted 
themselves to be reduced to the position of slaves. 

The Slavs occupied a large belt of territory east of the 
Germans, and extended far into Russia. As the Germans 
withdrew to the west and south, the Slavs followed them 
and took possession of the land thus vacated. In this way 
they finally came as far west as the Elbe, and may be said 
to have held nearly all of the territory from the Elbe to the 
Dnieper. A large part of what is now Prussia, Saxony, and 
Bohemia became wholly Slavic. 

The Slavs, as well as the Kelts and Germans, were broken 
up into many tribes having no political connection with 
each other. They seem to have had a patriarchal form of 
government. At any rate, great reverence was shown the 
old men of the tribe, who, by virtue of their age, had a 
controlling voice in the management of affairs. At first 
the Slavs probably had no nobility. They elected their 
leaders in war, and so strong was the democratic spirit 



Introduction 15 



among them that they were never able to produce a royal 
line. 

Their religion was a form of idolatry. They had priests, 
who were consulted on all matters, political and religious. 
Though they had powerful frames and impressed the Character. 
Romans with their size,, they were tame and unwarlike, 
and have never been conquerors. Their location was 
favorable to the occupations of cattle-raising and agricul- 
ture. They did not jjossess a strong national feeling, and 
were therefore easily assimilated by other peoples. Large 
numbers of them were Germanized from the ninth cen- 
tury on. 

In the ninth century another branch of the Slavs, called The Letts, 
the Letts, came into history. We first meet them on the 
shore of the Baltic, from the Vistula to some distance be- 
yond the Nieman. They were divided into Lithuanians 
and Prussians. It is curious to note that the name of this 
non-German people (the Prussians) has, in the process of 
time, come to be applied to the leading German state of 
to-day. 

Besides these Indo-European peoples which we have just e.the 

. URAL-AL- 

discussed there were others, which are usually called Ural- taic 

PEOPLES 

Altaic or Finnic-Turkish tribes. "Turanian" is also ap- 
plied to them. They were to be found in northern Scan- 
dinavia and in the northern, northwestern, and eastern 
parts of Russia. They were the Finns, the Lapps, the Es- 
thonians, the Livonians, the Ugrians, the Tchuds, the Per- 
mians, the Magyars, the Huns, and many others. They 
were related to the Turkish Mongols. During the Middle 
Age, at least, they in no way advanced the interests of 
civilization, but rather played the part of a scourge — de- 
stroyers rather than builders. 

The division followed above is linguistic. Philologists 
first discovered the similarity between the languages of the 



i6 



The Mediccval Period 



Basis of 
above class- 
ification 
philological; 
not recog- 
nized by 
ethnolo- 
gists. 



Greeks, the Romans, the Kelts, the Germans, the Slavs, 
the Letts, the Persians, and the ancient inhabitants of India, 
and on the basis of these resemblances classed these peoples 
together as one great race. It was inferred that because 
their languages were akin, the people themselves must have 
been of the same original stock. The modern sciences of 
anthropology and ethnology do not recognize the validity 
of such an argument, but declare that these peoples do not 
belong to the same race, although their languages are re- 
lated. Ethnologists now use other tests to discover the 
racial relations of peoples. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

The Empire and Its Peoples. Bury, Later Romaii Empire. Vol. I.j pp. 
1-58. 2 vols. $6.00. Macmillan. Adams, Civilization During the 
Mii/ti/e Ag-es, Chaps. 1-11. $2.50. Scribner. Gihhon, Jioman E?ii/'ire, 
Chaps. I-II. Bury, yVte Roman Kiupirc. $1.50. Harper. Kings- 
ley. Capes, T!ie Early Empire. $1.00. Scribner. 

The Gekmans. Gibbon, Roviati Empire, Chap. IX. Tacitus, Germania. 
.20. Penn. Univ. Translations. Also, .55. Macmillan. Kingsley, 
The Roman and the Teuton. $1.25. Macmillan. Stuhhs, Constitutional 
J/istory 0/ England, VoX. 1., Chaps. 1-2- 3 vols. $i,6o each. Claren- 
don. 



CHAPTER I 

THE EMPIRE, THE CHURCH, AND THE INVASIONS OF 

THE GERMANS 

LITERATURE.-i. For the Empire: Z^^^s, Age of the Antonines. $1.00. 

zlrX^^^History of the Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius 

the Great to the Coronation of Charles the Great. $1.00. Scnbner. 
Sheppard. Fall of Rome and Rise of New Nationalities. $1.50. 

^olt^in^The Dynasty of Theodosius, or Seventy Years' Struggle with 

the Barbarians. $1.5°- Clarendon. 
Penn. Univ., '/Vrtwi&toH^, Vols. IV., 1-2; VI., 3-4- , ^j r 

Dyer, The City of Rome . . ■ from Its Foundation to tlie End of 

the Middle Ages. $1.50. MacmiUan. 
Hodgkin The Letters of Cassiodorus ; Condensed Translation. $4.00 

Italy and Her Invaders. 8 vols. About $4500. Clarendon. 
2. For England: Freeman, Origin of the English Nation. .25. 

P^Jelflnd Tout, History of England 3 parts. $1.00 each part. 

Longmans. i a. nn 

S. R. Gardiner, Student's History of England. Part I. $i.oo. 

Longmans. 
Robertson, Maidng of the English Nation, JS B.C.-iiJS A.U. .50. 

Scribner. 
Cre^v^, Short History of the English People. $2.25. Harper. 

Green, Making of England. $2.50. Harper. 

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English, with the Anglo-Saxon 

Chronicle. By T. A. Giles. $1.50. Macmillan. 

Greea, History 0/ the English People. 4 vols. $8.00. Harper. $5.00. 

Caldwell. 
Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, Vol. I., Chaps. 4-8. 3 vols. 

$2.60 each. Clarendon. 
Taswell-Langmead, Constitutional History of England. $6.00. 

Houghton. 
3. For the Church: Fisher, Beginnings of Christianity. $2.50. 

Scribner. 
Uhlhorn, Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism. $2.50. Scribner. 

See also General Literature. 

Augustus brought about a change in the form of gov- 
ernment of the Roman state, which, for nearly two hun- 

17 



i8 



The Medicozral Period 



The Repub- 
lic of Rome 
becomes an 
empire, 
31 B.C. 



Decline of 
the empire 
in the third 
century. 



The 

changes of 
Diocletian, 
284-305. 



dred years, was attended with large benefits. Even under 
the vicious emperors of the first century the people were 
probably in a better condition than during the last days of 
the republic. The emperors cleared the sea of pirates and 
the land of brigands and robbers ; they built roads con- 
necting all parts of the empire, thus making commerce 
easier ; their excellent police made travel safer ; they ad- 
ministered justice more equitably, and the government, be- 
ing better centralized, performed its functions with greater 
efficiency. 

The wise emperors of the second century, while making 
progress in nearly every direction, gave the empire an in- 
creasingly good and beneficent government. But the death 
of Marcus Aurelius (181 a.d.) put a check to the long 
period of prosperity, and for about a hundred years the 
empire was rent with revolts and seditions. The law gov- 
erning the succession to the crown was often disregarded. 
Once the army put the crown up for sale to the highest 
bidder and, at another time, there were at least nineteen 
persons who, in different parts of the empire, assumed the 
imperial title. During the third century many of the em- 
peroi-s met a violent death at the hands of a usurper. The 
crown was regarded by ambitious men as a legitimate object 
of prey. 

Diocletian tried to put an end to this chaos by devising 
a scheme for fixing the succession and making the persons 
of the emperors more secure. He arranged that there 
should be two emperors, each having an assistant, called a 
Cresar. The two emperors, after ruling twenty years, were 
to resign in favor of the two Csesars, who would then choose 
two other C?esars to assist them. To render the lives of 
the four rulers more secure, they were to be shut off from 
free intercourse with the people, and each was to be sur- 
rounded by a court modelled after eastern ideals. The gov- 



Tlic Invasions of the Germans 19 



ernment was to be more centralized, the senate deprived 
of its little remaining power, and heavy taxes were to be 
levied to meet the increased expenses of the government. 
This scheme was successful only in part. The resignation 
of Diocletian and Maximian (305) was followed by a civil 
war, which gave Constantine the opportunity to make him- 
self sole ruler. But Constantine, although he overthrew 
the essential part of Diocletian's scheme, did not return to 
the simplicity of the former emperors; on the contrary, he 
increased his court, and multiplied the expenses of his 
government. 

Of the emperors of the third century, however, many 
were barbarians who had little or no regard for Rome. 
Either by preference or necessity, they spent their time in 
the provinces or on the frontier. When Diocletian and 
Maximian divided the government the emperor in the east 
took up his residence at Nicomedia, while the emperor in 
the west lived in Milan. Constantine, led by various mo- The new 
tives, chose for his residence Byzantium, which after for- *^^P"* • 
tifying and enlarging, he called Constantinople. Rome 
thus lost her position as capital of the empire, being re- 
placed by Constantinople, or New Rome, as it was called. 

Constantine earned the gratitude of his Christian sub- 
jects by making Christianity a legal religion. The conser- 
vatism of the emperors had led them to forbid the practice The Empire 
of all new religions ; their fears caused them to regard the p*? j^ 
harmless meetings of the Christians as dangerous gatherings 
of conspirators. From the first, therefore, Christianity was 
proscribed until soon it came to be understood that the 
mere name of Christian was an offence against the state. 
To be a Christian was to be worthy of death. While the 
Christians were generally treated with leniency by the gov- 
ernment they suffered much at the hands of the mob, who 
attributed all disasters to them. During the first three 



20 The Mediccval Period 

centuries there were several persecutions, mostly of a local 
character, but in the year 303, Diocletian, at the instiga- 
tion of his Caesar, Galerius, began a fierce persecution of 
the Christians, which was intended utterly to destroy the 
Schaff, Vol. new religion. " Christian churches were to be destroyed ; 
■' ^' '■ all copies of the Bible were to be burned ; all Christians 
were to be deprived of public office and civil rights ; and, 
at last all, without exception, were to sacrifice to the gods 
upon pain of death." After eight bloody years Galerius 
confessed that the Christians were too strong for him, and 
published a proclamation granting them toleration. 

Two years later Constantine went a step farther and 
issued an edict ordering all Church property which had 
been confiscated to be restored to the Christians. It was 
Constantine the policy of Constantine to further Christianity. In 313 
Church ^^^ released the Catholic clergy from many burdensome po- 

litical duties. In 315 he freed the Church from the pay- 
ment of certain taxes. Probably in 316 he made legal the 
manumission of slaves which took place in churches. In 
321 churches were granted the privilege of receiving leg- 
acies. In 323 he forbade the compulsory attendance of 
Christians at heathen worship and celebrations. Up to 
323 the coins which he struck bore the images and inscrip- 
tions of various gods ; after that time his coins had only 
allegorical emblems. But though thus favoring Christianity, 
Constantine never in any way limited or prohibited heathen- 
ism. He retained the office and performed the duties of 
pontifex maxinius. In 321 he issued an edict commanding 
that officials should consult the haruspices (soothsayers). 
After the year 326 he permitted a temple to be erected to 
himself, and allowed himself to be worshipped. At his 
death he was enrolled among the gods and received the 
title of Divus. It is evident, therefore, that the famed con- 
version of Constantine was political rather than religious. 



The Invasions of the Germans 21 

His principal interest was centred in the unity of the 
Church, which he wished to use as a tool in the work of 
governing the empire. He did not make Christianity the 
state religion ; he made it merely a legal religion. It re- 
mained for Gratian (375-383) and Theodosius (379-395) Christianity 

to make orthodox Christianity the only legal religion, by "^^^e the 

only legal 
forbidding heathen worship and persecuting all heresy, religion. 

They decreed that only orthodox Christians should have 

the rights of citizenship. 

Before his death (337), Constantine divided the govern- Julian the 
ment among his four sons, who covered themselves with P°^ ^ ^" 
shame by waging war on each other, and by murdering their 
relatives in order to remove all competitors for the throne. 
One cousin, however, Julian, was spared and in 361 became 
emperor. The cruel treatment which he had received 
from his Christian cousins, together with his love, inspired 
by his pagan tutors, for the heathen religion, had made 
him hostile to Christianity. When he came to the throne 
he therefore tried to destroy Christianity and restored 
heathenism. But failing completely, for his pains he won 
the hatred of the Christians and the title. Apostate. 

Although Diocletian's scheme had failed, it was apparent 
that one man could not satisfactorily fill the office of em- 
peror. After several ineffectual attempts at division, The- 
odosius the Great arranged that, at his death, his first son, 
Arcadius, should succeed to the government in the east, Two Em- 

with his residence at Constantinople, and his second son, P^'^o'"^ r"ls» 

395- 
Honorius, should rule in the west, with Milan for his ca;p- 

ital. Practically this had the effect of making two empires, 

but the people of that time did not think of the matter in 

that way. They regarded the empire as indivisible ; only 

the duties of the emperor could be divided. In spite of 

this division of labor the fifth century was full of reverses 

and disasters. The emperors were, for the most part, weak 



22 



TJic Mediceval Period 



Zeno sole 
Emperor, 
476 A.D. 



THE GER- 
MANS. 



and worthless, and often mere puppets in the hands of 
some ambitious and scheming barbarian. At length, the 
following circumstances led to the deposition of the em- 
peror in the west and the nominal reunion of the east and 
the west under one emperor. The Roman army, was, in 
the fiftli century, largely composed of German mercenaries, 
who finally began to ask the government for lands on which 
they might settle. When Romulus Augustulus, a mere boy, 
became emperor (476) with his father, Orestes, the power 
behind the throne, the Germans in tlie army, peremptorily 
demanded that one-third of the land in Italy be divided 
among them. This demand Orestes refused. They there- 
upon put themselves under the leadership of Odovacar, a 
clever soldier of fortune, to take by force what had been 
denied them. In the war which followed Orestes was slain, 
the little emperor made a prisoner, and compelled to come 
before the senate to resign his office. At the command of 
Odovacar the senate wrote a letter to Zeno, the emperor 
at Constantinople, telling him what had taken place and 
adding that, in their judgment, one emperor was able to 
rule the whole empire. They further asked him to ap- 
point Odovacar governor of the province of Italy. After 
some delay, Zeno granted their request, and thus, in the 
year 476, the whole empire was again nominally under one 
emperor whose seat was permanently fixed at Constantino- 
ple. But as a matter of fact, the authority of the emperor 
was no longer felt in many parts of the west. Some of the 
fairest provinces of the empire were occupied by Germans 
who had invaded the empire and settled on the soil, estab- 
lishing a rude government of their own over the provincials. 
The Germans, who had once lived east of the Rhine and 
along the Baltic, had gradually moved west and south, 
threatening the Rhine and Danube frontiers. During the 
second and third centuries they made frequent marauding 



TJic Invasions of the Germans 23 

excursions into the empire. Asia Minor, the whole Balkan 
peninsula, and the eastern part of Gaul suffered much at 
their hands. In 376 the invading army of the Huns at- 
tacked the West Goths, who, to save themselves, hastily 
crossed the Danube, a hundred thousand in number, and 
begged the emperor to give them lands. The emperor set- The West 
tied them on lands south of the Danube, made thtm feeder- ^j^° EnToire'' 
ati (allies), and promised them yearly a gift of grain. 376. 
They retained their arms, gave hostages to keep the peace, 
and agreed to furnish a contingent of troops for the Roman 
army. The Roman officials, however, soon began to op- 
press and defraud them, and in 378 they revolted and 
plundered the country. The emperor, Valens, hastened 
Avith his army to meet them, but was slain in battle near 
Adrianople (378). Theodosius the Great adopted a wise 
policy of conciliation toward them, and after some years 
succeeded in persuading them to return to the lands which 
had formerly been given them. In 395 the spirit of 
restlesness again took possession of them and under the 
leadership of their newly elected king, Alaric, they ravaged 
the Balkan peninsula. After some years of residence in 
Illyria and Noricum, they made a successful invasion of 
Italy (408), took and sacked Rome (410), and spread Sack of 
themselves over the country, carrying desolation wherever ^°™^» 4iO' 
they went. In the expectation of crossing over to Africa 
the next spring, Alaric pitched his camp near Cosenza, 
where he soon fell a prey to Italian fever. His brother-in- Death of 
law, Athaulf, who was elected to succeed him, made peace ^"*'' ^^^' 
with the emperor and received lands for his people in Gaul 
and Spain. After some years of fighting, Athaulf was able 
to establish his people on the lands ceded him. They were The king- 
eventually driven out of Gaul, but held Spain till 711, when ^"^ °^ *^® 
the Mohammedans conquered them and put an end to their Goths, 
kingdom. 



24 



The Medicsval Period 



Invasion of 
Ratger, 404, 



Vandals 
and Suevi, 
406. 



The king- 
dom of the 
Vandals, 

429-534- 



The Bur- 
gundians, 
443-534- 



This invasion of the empire by the West Goths was soon 
followed by many others. The defence on the frontier 
seemed suddenly to fail, thus exposing the empire to the 
inroads of the barbarians. In the year 404, Ratger, who 
had become the leader of one division of the East Goths, 
led about 200,000 of them from Pannonia into Italy. 
After ravaging the northern provinces he was slain by the 
emperor's forces and his army completely destroyed. 

A large army of Vandals and Suevi crossed the middle 
Rhine during the winter of 406-7, and proceeded slowly 
through Gaul, devastating the country as they went. En- 
countering the West Goths in southern Gaul they were 
driven by them over the Pyrenees. The Suevi were grad- 
ually forced into northwestern Spain, where they established 
an obscure kingdom, which was eventually conquered and 
annexed by the West Goths (585). 

The Vandals, after having been driven by the West 
Goths into southern Spain, crossed over into Africa, 80,000 
strong, and took possession of the rich provinces there. 
Their first king, Geiseric, had a large amount of barbarian 
cunning and shrewdness, but was cruel and treacherous. 
By oppressing and persecuting the orthodox provincials he 
made himself feared and hated. He extended his power 
by conquering the islands of the western Mediterranean and, 
in 455, he sacked Rome itself. His people, however, were 
weakened by the climate and by their excesses, and in the 
next century were easily overcome by the emperor's troops 

(533-34)- 

The Burgundians left their home between the Oder and 
the Vistula al)out the middle of the third century, and in a 
iew years we find them on the Rhine and the Main. The 
territory about Worms was granted them in 413. The 
scene of many parts of the Nibelungen Lied, which contains 
the Burgundian traditions of that period, is laid in and about 



The Invasions of the Germans 25 

Worms. After various fortunes the emperor's officer, Aetius, 
in 443, transferred them to the territory south of Lake Ge- 
neva, from which they extended their power, till, in 473, 
they had reached the Mediterranean. But they were not 
able to resist the encroachments of the Franks, their pow- 
erful neighbors on the north, by whom they were conquered 
and absorbed (534). 

A federation of tribes, known as the Alamanni, took pos- The Ala- 
session of the Black Forest, southern Germany, and north- '"^""i* 49°- 
ern Switzerland, but, like the Burgundians, their indepen- 
dence, also, was cut short by the Franks (496). 

Although racked by these German invaders, Europe was 
now called to suffer from a still more barbarous foe, the 
Huns. After taking possession of southeastern Europe in 
the last quarter of the fourth century, the course of the 
Huns to the west was temporarily checked. They seem 
not to have remained long united, but to have broken up 
into groups, some of which went into the service of the em- 
pire. After awhile a new leader appeared in the person of 
Rugilas, who did much to bring them together again. At 
his death (435) he was succeeded by two nephews, Bleda 
and Attila, who ruled jointly till about 444, when Attila 
caused Bleda to be assassinated. By diplomatic means, as 
well as by force, Attila united all the peoples, of whatever Attila and 
race, between the Volga and the Rhine. With an army ^^^ Huns, 
composed largely of Huns and Germans he more than once 
ravaged the eastern empire, even crossing into Asia, carry- 
ing the war into Armenia, Syria, the valleys of the Tigris 
and Euphrates, and threatening Persia. Constantinople 
was once in danger from him, and was compelled to pay 
him a heavy ransom. At length, in 450, he turned his at- 
tention to the west. With an immense army he crossed the 
Rhine, ravaged northern Gaul, and was moving toward the 
south when his march was stopped by the defence of Or- 



26 



The Mediaeval Period 



The Cata- 
launian 
Fields, 451. 



Character 
of Attila. 



The rule of 
Odovacar, 
476 493- 



l6ans. Aetius, the commander of the imperial army in the 
west, gathered together all the forces possible and went to 
assist the city. Attila withdrew to the " Catalaunian 
Fields" (the exact location of which is unknown), where 
he was defeated (451) in a great battle. He retreated to 
his capital in Pannonia, a village near the modern Tukai, 
on the Theiss river. The next summer he invaded and 
ravaged northern Italy, but was compelled to retreat, be- 
cause of the fever which broke out in his army, and the 
approach of the army under Aetius. Luckily for Europe 
he died in 453. 

Though a barbarian, Attila was by no means a savage. 
He practised the arts of diplomacy, often sent and received 
embassies, and respected the international laws and customs 
which then existed. His residence presented a strong mixt- 
ure of barbarism and luxury. His small, wooden houses 
were filled with the rich plunder carried off in his many in- 
vasions of Roman territory. He despised Rome and her 
civilization, and hoped to erect an empire of his own on 
her ruins. He had among his following several Greeks, 
through whose \vritten accounts of him, his conquests, and 
his kingdom, he hoped to become immortal. At his death 
his empire fell rapidly to pieces. His son, Ella, attempted 
to quell the revolting tribes, but lost his life in battle (454). 
All the German and Slavic peoples which had obeyed At- 
tila and added to his strength now became independent, 
and were once more able to trouble the empire. 

Italy, as we have seen, fell, in 476, into the hands of Odo- 
vacar, who had at his back a large army composed princi- 
pally of Germans. Theoretically he was subject to the 
emperor, but practically he was independent. He gave 
Italy an excellent government, restoring peace and enforc- 
ing the laws. Under his rule prosperity was rapidly re- 
turning and Italy was beginning to recover from the long 



The Invasions of the Germans 27 

period of misrule and violence. In 487 Odovacar attacked 
the Ruo;ians in Pannonia and defeated them, but their The East 
prince fled to the East Goths and begged for their protec- y^de U^alv 
tion. The East Goths, under their king, Theodoric, were 489. 
living along the middle Danube. Since the emperor was 
not able to control them, they kept the peace or ravaged 
the country as it pleased them. Theodoric embraced the 
opportunity to invade Italy with his whole people, and the 
emperor, glad to be rid of so troublesome neighbors, gave 
his consent. It was immaterial to the emperor which of 
the two barbarians should rule Italy, since he was not able 
to rule it himself. In 489 Theodoric entered Italy and, 
after four years of fighting, made peace with Odovacar, 
agreeing to rule Italy jointly with him. Nevertheless, dur- 
ing the celebration of the peace thus concluded, Theodoric 
had Odovacar basely murdered (493). Theodoric, now 
without a rival, took possession of the country, assigned 
land to his people, and established them in fixed residence. 
He ruled Italy as king of the East Goths, making use of the The reign 
machinery of government which he found already in exist- j^, .Q^_c2(i' 
ence there, and filling the offices with Romans. He devel- 
oped an activity of the widest range. He restored the 
aqueducts and walls of many cities, repaired the roads, 
drained marshes, reopened mines, cared for public build- 
ings, promoted agriculture, established markets, preserved 
the peace, administered justice strictly and enforced the 
laws. By intermarriages and treaties he tried to maintain 
peace between all the neighboring German kingdoms, that 
they might not mutually destroy each other. He knew that 
if the Germans were weakened by wars among themselves 
the emperors would easily conquer them. At his death The end of 
(526) the trouble which arose about the succession led to ^^^ offhe 
the invasion of Italy by the emperor, Justinian. After East Goths, 
nearly twenty years of war, the armies of the emperor were ^^^* 



28 



The Mediceval Period 



Other Ger- 
man tribes. 



Germans 
settle in 
Britain, 449. 



Supremacy 
of Wessex, 
802-39. 

England re- 
mains Ger- 
man. 



successful, the kingdom of the East Goths was destroyed, 
and Italy again became a province of the empire. 

Beyond the frontier there were still several German tribes 
which were only beginning to come into contact with the 
empire. Such were tlie Bavarians, the Lombards, the 
Thuringians, the Saxons, the Angles, the Jutes, and the va- 
rious tribes in Scandinavia. The Franks, composed of 
many tribes, and settled along the lower Rhine, gradually 
spread through northern Gaul. Their history is reserved 
for a subsequent chapter. The most remote province in 
the west, Britannia, was also invaded by Germans from the 
main-land, who slowly wrested the country from its inhabi- 
tants. This invasion began about 449, the Jutes first tak- 
ing possession of Kent. Other settlements were soon made 
which grew into little kingdoms, such as Sussex, Wessex, 
Essex, East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia. These king- 
doms fought first against the Keltic inhabitants, and then 
against each other. The final struggle, between Northum- 
bria, Mercia, and Wessex, resulted in favor of Wessex. 
Ecgberht, king of Wessex (802-39), "lade himself the over- 
lord of all England. 

These Anglo-Saxons established in Britain a pure German 
state. The Roman civilization was gone; there was noth- 
ing to prevent their free development along the lines pecul- 
iar to themselves. Their Anglo-Saxon dialect developed 
into a literary language almost uninfluenced by Latin. It 
was spoken everywhere. As early as 680 Caedmon had sung 
the " Song of Creation " in his mother-tongue, and parts, 
at least, of the heathen poem "Beowulf ' were already in ex- 
istence. The laws of the people, written down in Anglo- 
Saxon, rather than in Latin, as were the laws of all the 
Germanic kingdoms on the continent, show that the gov- 
ernment, legal ideas, and customs, which the people had 
had on the continent were not influenced by Rome and 



The Invasions of the Germans 29 

her civilization. As a result England has now the purest 
Germanic law of any country in existence — purer than in 
Germany itself, where, owing to the later connection be- 
tween that country and the empire, Roman law prevailed 
over the Germanic. 

The Anglo-Saxons parcelled out their lands to groups 
probably of about a hundred warriors. The land which 
such a group received was then divided among its mem- 
bers and they settled in villages. Their residences were 
called after the name of the family, with the addition of "Ham" and 
"-ham" or "-tun" (English, "home" and "town;" ' 

German, " Heim " and "Zaun"). "Ham" had the 
meaning of " dwelling," and " tun " signified the wall or 
fence which enclosed the village or place of defence. The 
affairsof each township were managed by all the freemen of 
the village, who met in a "moot" (meeting) to discuss Democratic 
and decide all public matters. In the same way all the government, 
freemen of the hundred met and determined all questions 
that concerned the welfare of the hundred. A still higher 
court, composed of all the freemen of the whole tribe, was 
assembled whenever questions that concerned the whole 
tribe were to be decided or disputes between the hundreds 
were to be settled. It is probable that it was early found 
to be impracticable to get all the freemen together as often 
as was desirable, and this led to the introduction of a kind 
of representation. A small number of men were sent from 
each township to the hundredmoot, and the same number 
sent from each hundred to the folkmoot. The same 
social distinctions were perpetuated as had existed among 
them on the continent. There were three classes : the 
noblemen or ealdormen, the freemen or ceorls, and the 
slaves. The coinitatiis was, of course, quickly modified, 
the followers of a leader being called thanes as soon as they 
got lands and left the immediate presence of their leaders. 



30 



The Mediccval Period 



Christianity 
in Ireland. 



Irish Mis- 
sionaries. 



Orthodox 
mission- 
aries among 
the Anglo- 
Saxons. 



The Christianization of Ireland is veiled in obscurity, 
but it seems probable that St. Patrick (died in 465 or 493) 
was the first missionary who met with very much success 
there. Under him the whole island became Christian, 
though it was in a low state of civilization, and in the next 
centuries won so great a reputation for its piety that it was 
called "The Isle of Saints." The Church of Ireland was 
independent of Rome, and differed in some respects from 
the Church on the continent. The type of Christianity es- 
tablished there was thoroughly ascetic and monastic. The 
ascetic zeal of the Irish led them to try to convert the 
world to their form of Christianity. It was not so much 
what is now called the "missionary spirit," as the desire 
to undergo hardships of all kinds. To travel in foreign 
lands as a missionary (^peregrinare pro Christd) was, be- 
cause of its difficulties, a meritorious work. In accordance 
with their ascetic ideas, they settled not in the cities but 
in the wilds. Their first settlements were in Scotland. In 
563 St. Columba (or St. Columbcille) sailed with twelve 
fellow-monks to Scotland, where the island of lona was 
given them, from which, occasionally reenforced by other 
monks from Ireland, they carried on their work on the 
main-land. They labored not only in Scotland, but also 
among the Anglo-Saxons of Britain and on the continent. 
Lindisfarne, on the east coast of England, was occupied by 
them, and for a long time was a centre of missionary activity 
among the Angles. 

On his accession Oswald (634-42), king of Northumbria, 
having once been sheltered in the monastery of lona, sent 
to its abbot for missionaries. St. Aidan, and after him, St. 
Cuthbert, met with great success, and it seemed for some 
time that the Church of Ireland would extend itself over 
the whole of Great Britain. But there was another stream 
of missionary activity beginning to move to the west which 



The Invasions of the Germans 31 

had its source in Rome. In 596, Gregory the Great, bishop 
of Rome, sent a monk, Augustine, with about thirty com- 
panions, to Kent. Aethelberht, king of Kent, had re- 
cently married Bertha, an orthodox Prankish princess, who 
now exerted all her influence in favor of the missionaries, 
and within a year the king and many of his nobles ac- 
cepted Christianity and were baptized. 

From Kent the orthodox form spread slowly to the England 
north, constantly nearing the boundaries of the Irish faith. jjQj^arf ^ 
Finally they met face to face in Northumbria. A bitter Catholic 
struggle arose ; the king, who was in doubt, called a ' ^' 

council at Whitby (664) to listen to the arguments of both 
parties. Wilfrid, a priest, spoke for the Roman Church, 
while Colman defended the claims of the Irish missionaries. 
Colman continually quoted St. Columba, but Wilfrid de- 
clared that St. Peter was of greater authority because he 
was the prince of the apostles and because Jesus had said 
to him, '>' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my Church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 
When Wilfrid spoke these words the king became very much 
interested ; he had apparently never heard them before. 
He asked Colman whether they had really been said to St. 
Peter, and Colman admitted that they had. The king then 
asked whether similar authority had been given to St. 
Columba, and Colman confessed that it had not. At this 
the king replied, "This is a doorkeeper whom I am un- Bede, His- 
willing to offend, lest, when I come to the gates of heaven, ^'^■^pV'^^ 
if he, who is admitted to have the keys, is opposed to me. III., 25. 
there may be none to open to me." Thus the Roman 
Church won the day and the Irish missionaries were com- 
pelled to withdraw from England. The decision brought 
England into close connection with the continent, es- 
pecially with the bishop of Rome, assured the influence of 



32 



The Mediccval Period 



OneChurch, 
one king- 
dom. 



Monas- 
ticism and 
learning. 
Bede. 



Rome, and so affected all the future of English history. 
Through the Church, Roman legal ideas, usages, and modes 
of thought, in short, the remains of Rome's civilization, 
were gradually imported, greatly to her advantage, into 
England. 

Theodore of Tarsus, a learned Greek, came to England 
as archbishop of Canterbury (669-90), and by virtue of 
his high position organized the English Church around 
Canterbury as the centre and head. He divided all the 
territory into bishoprics, and introduced the parish system. 
The whole Church of England was bound to the bishop of 
Rome. The church organization did not follow the bound- 
aries of the kingdoms, but all were impressed with the fact 
that the Church was one and could recognize no political 
or national lines. The idea of the unity of the Church had 
great influence on the political ideas, and helped prepare 
the minds of the people for the idea of the political unity 
of the whole country. 

The learning of the monks of England was considerable. 
While Greek was utterly unknown in the west of Europe, 
it was mastered by some of the pupils of Theodore. The 
monasteries contained many monks who were excellent 
scholars. Most famous of all was Bede, known as the Ven- 
erable Bede (673-735), a monk of Jarrow. He had for 
his pupils the six hundred monks of that monastery, besides 
the many strangers who came to hear him. He gradually 
mastered all the learning of his day, and left at his death 
forty-five volumes of his writings, the most important of 
which are "The Ecclesiastical History of the English," 
and his translation of the gospel of John into English. 
His writings were widely known and used throughout 
Europe. He reckoned all dates from the birth of Christ, 
and through his works the use of the Christian era became 
common in Europe. Owing to the large number of mon- 



The Invasions of the Germans 33 



asteries and monks in Northunibria, that part of England 
was far in advance of the south in civilization. 

Of all the kingdoms whose beginnings we have thus far 
traced, only two, those of the Franks and the Anglo-Sax- 
ons, were to survive the dangers which beset their existence 
and to become powerful states ; all the others lost their 
political independence, and were either destroyed or ab- 
sorbed by the peoples among whom they had settled. 

From the foregoing account it is apparent that, about 
500 A.D., the western part of the empire was held by bar- See Map 
barians whose rulers were practically independent of the ^" 

emperor. The Germans always demanded land on which The Ger- 
they might settle and, in general, it may be said that they JJJand lands 
took one-third of the soil of the conquered province, dis- 
tributing it among themselves. They brought with them 
their peculiar customs and laws which were eventually re- 
duced to writing and have been preserved for us. The 
German demanded to be tried and judged by the laws of 
his own tribe. He regarded his tribal law as a personal 
possession which he carried with him wherever he went. 
This conception of law, known as personal, was opposed to 
the Roman, which was territorial. 

All the Germans, except the Franks and the Anglo- Arianism 

Saxons, had been converted to Christianity before they ?^'^°"f Jl ^ 
' -' -' (jrermans. 

settled in the empire. But, unfortunately for them, their 
faith was now regarded as heretical, being known as Arian- 
ism. This was a form of Unitarianism. The provincials 
among whom they settled hated them, both as foreign con- 
querors and as heretics. There could, therefore, be little 
free intercourse between the two peoples. 



34 The Mediaeval Period 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

The Reign of the Antonines. Gibbon, Roman Empire, Chap. III. 
Capes, Age of the Aniom'/ies, Chaps. IV. and V. 

The Church and the Empire. Fisher, Beghinuigs of Christianity. Uhl- 
horn, Conflict of Christianity 7uith Heathenism. Capes, Age of the An- 
tonines, Chaps. VI. and VII. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 
Vol. II., Chaps. II. -III. Vol. III., Chaps. I. -III. Each $4.00. 
Scribner. Milman, History 0/ Latin Christianity, Vol. I., Chap. I. 

Theodoric. Hodgkin, Thcodoric the Goth. Milman, History of Latin 
Christianity, Vol. II., Chap. III. Bury, The Later Rotnan Empire, 
Vol. I., pp. 261-289. 

The Anglo-Saxons. Green, Making of England, pp. i-i88. Milman, 
Vol. IV., Chaps. III.-V. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, 
Vol. I., Chaps. IV. -VIII. Cutts, Augustine of Canterbury. $1.00. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co, G. F. Maclear, The English. 2s. Society 
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. A. J. Mason, The 
Mission of St. Augustine. $1.25. Macmillan. 



mans were 
invaders. 



CHAPTER II 

THE REACTION OF THE EMPIRE AGAINST THE 

GERMANS 

LITERATURK. —Bury, Later Roman Empire. 2 vols. $6.00. Macmillan. 

Qa.'p^s, University Life in Ancient Athens. $0.25. Harper. 
Gibbon, Roman Empire, Chaps. XL.-XLIV. 

Although there was more or less friendly intercourse be- The Ger- 
tween the various Germanic kingdoms and the court of 
Constantinople, the situation was far from pleasing to the 
emperor. The barbarians had invaded his territory ; they 
were unwelcome guests whom he must entertain because he 
did not have the power to drive them out. Of this weak- 
ness they took advantage, and ruled with such indepen- 
dence that their lands were practically cut off from the 
empire. Such a loss of territory was regarded as a great 
disgrace, which could be removed only by the reconquest 
of the lost provinces. In an absolute government every- 
thing depends on the ability of the monarch. The anarchy 
and violence of the fourth and fifth centuries were possible 
because of the weak emperors and the internal feuds and 
dissensions. The weak rulers of these centuries were fol- 
lowed by a succession of able men, chief of whom was Jus- 
tinian. In him the reaction against the Germans reached 
its highest point. Under Zeno (474-91), Anastasius I. 
(491-518), and Justin I. (518-27), the empire slowly 
gathered strength, and the way was prepared for the bril- 
liant activity of Justinian (527-65). The long period of 
helplessness and weakness was followed by a great revival 
of strength, in which the palmy days of the empire seemed 

35 



36 The Mediccval Period 



to return. The imperial arms were again victorious, and 
large parts of the lost territory were reconquered and again 
united to the empire. 

Justinian Justinian's claim to the title Great rests on his versatility 

527-05. and cleverness. His interests were of the widest range. He 

was interested in building and architecture, in law and 
theology, in commerce and manufactures, in war, diplomacy, 
and the art of governing. He was able to select men of 
ability to fill the highest positions and to work for him; he 
was inflexible in will and persisted with the greatest deter- 
mination in the policy which he had once adopted. 

His attention was called to the condition of the laws. 
They had never yet been collected and codified. There 

Codification were many inconsistencies and contradictions among them ; 

of Roman consequently the administration of justice was difficult. 
Justinian appointed a commission, with Tribonian at its 
head, to collect, harmonize, and arrange the laws of the 
empire. This was done in such a way that all earlier col- 
lections were made useless, and hence, the most of them 
were soon destroyed. The laws themselves were gathered 
into one collection which has ever since been called the 
Codex of Justinian. Tribonian seems to have used the ut- 
most freedom in treating the text of the laws. Many 
changes were made in order to reduce them to harmony. 
Besides the laws, the opinions, explanations, and decisions 
of famous judges and lawyers were collected. As in the 
practice of law to-day, much regard was had for precedent 
and decisions in similar cases, and these were brought to- 
gether from all quarters in a collection called the Pandects. 
For the use of the law-students, a treatise on the general 
principles of Roman law was prepared, which was called 
the Institutes. Justinian himself carefiilly kept the laws 
which he promulgated, and afterward published them under 
the title of " Novellae." 



Reaction of the Empire against Germans 37 

Immense sums of money were necessary to carry on the 
work which Justinian planned. The churches he built, 
the most famous of which is St. Sophia ; the walls and nu- 
merous forts with which he sought to protect the empire ; 
the fraud practised in the administration of the army and 
in the collection of the taxes ; Justinian's lavish personal Taxation. 
expenditures and the extravagance of the court, all so in- 
creased the taxes that the financial ruin of the people was 
only a question of time. 

Under Justinian Byzantine art took on its final form. A Byzantine 
fixed style of church architecture was developed, the prin- ' 
cipal characteristics of which are the cupola and the round 
arch. The churches were decorated with mosaics and 
paintings. In painting, also, certain types were accepted 
and forms established which became orthodox, and from 
which the Church would suffer no variation. These types 
and forms therefore existed for centuries without any 
change. In fact they are still observed and practised in 
the religious art of Russia and Greece. 

Justinian regarded himself as the final authority in all Justinian 
ecclesiastical matters, both in doctrine and in polity. He rhurch 
himself was orthodox, and believed that it was the duty of 
the state to destroy heresy. Heretics were persecuted and 
deprived of the rights of citizenship. He treated the bishops 
of Rome as his officials. When they displeased him, he 
ordered them to come to Constantinople, and, as it seemed 
best to him, he reprimanded, imprisoned, and even de- 
posed and exiled them. What may be called " home 
mission work " was carried on by the clergy at the com- 
mand of Justinian. There were still large numbers of pagans 
in the empire. Nearly all the peasants were pagan, and 
even in Constantinople there were many heathen to be 
found. These were sought out and forced to accept Chris- 
tianity or suffer persecution. 



38 



The Mediceval Period 



The univer- 
sity at 
Athens. 



Factions in 
Constanti- 
nople. 



Discussion 
of theologi- 
cal ques- 
tions. 



The greatest university of the world was, in this period, 
at Athens. Its professors were wholly pagan. So great 
was its fame, however, that even the Christian youth were 
sent there to be educated. Some of the greatest of the 
Church fathers were trained in that university. In 529 
Justinian closed the schools of Athens, and forbade heathen 
philosophers to teach. They were practically exiled. 
Many of them fled to Persia, where they hoped to find the 
fullest liberty. In this they were disappointed, and after 
enduring persecutions there, they returned to the west. 

The worst foes of the emperor were the people of Con- 
stantinople, who, because of their turbulence, kept him 
constantly in fear of a rebellion and rendered it impossible 
for him to give his undivided attention to the affairs of 
state. There were two great factions in the capital, each 
of which had its jjartisans throughout the empire. These 
factions were divided on all questions, both political and 
religious. Their most common place of meeting was the 
circus, where each party railed at the other and endeavored 
to win the favor and the patronage of the emperor. From 
the colors of the charioteers in the races the factions were 
known as the "Greens" and the "Blues." The Blues 
were orthodox and devoted to the house of Justinian, but 
the Greens were heterodox and secretly attached to the 
family of Anastasius. 

Probably religious differences were the cause of the deep- 
est hatred and at the bottom of all the trouble. During 
the long period while Christianity was fusing with the 
philosophy of the Greeks, and while the dogmas of the 
Church were being developed in accordance therewith 
(that is, during the first eight centuries, although the high- 
est activity was reached from the third to the sixth cen- 
tury), the Greek intellectual world was in a state of the 
greatest fermentation and discussion. Even the humblest 



Reaction of the Empire against Germans 39 

would have his say about the highest questions, and the 
green -grocer, the barber, and the cobbler were more inter- 
ested in discussing metaphysical questions with their cus- 
tomers than in serving them.' The questions at issue were 
purely speculative, in regard to the person of Jesus and his 
relation to God. Arianism declared that Jesus was not 
God, and had not existed eternally but had been created. 
He occupied, however, a much higher place than man. 
Orthodoxy was content with no other form of statement The Ni- 

than one which would declare that Tesus was " the Son of o^*?^ ^^^rfi 

-" bcnan, 111., 

God, begotten of the Father, Light of Light, very God of 667 ff. 
very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance 
with the Father." Furthermore, if Jesus was God, how 
was he at the same time man ? What kind of body did he 
have ? Did he have two natures, the divine and the hu- 
man ? two wills : divine and human ? How were these 
united? What was the relation between them? These 
and similar questions were discussed, not only in the 
church councils, but at the court, in the streets, in the 
places of business, and, indeed, wherever people came to- 
gether. Their discussion and study absorbed the attention 
of the best talent of the day. Still worse, they were fused 
with politics, and every political question was at the same Theology 

time a religious one. It was inevitable that such a com- f." PO"- 
'^ txcs 

bination should add to the mutual hatred, intrigue, and 
treachery. Though Justinian's ambition made it impossi- 
ble for him to submit tamely to the tyranny of these fac- 
tions, for some years he found no means of overcoming 
them, and was compelled to suffer many indignities at their 
hands. In 532, however, in consequence of a riot, Jus- 
tinian seized some of the leaders of both factions and or- 



' Gibbon, chap, xxvii., quotes from Jortin a paraphrase of a passage in 
Gregory of Nyssa's Sernfion on the Divinity of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit. ■ 



40 The Medifvval Period 

dered them to be put to death. But two of them were res- 
cued by the people, and both parties, choosing Hypatius 
emperor, united and attacked Justinian. While Justinian 
was holding council with his advisers and planning to 
escape, Theodora his wife, broke in upon them and de- 
See Bury, clared that, although a woman, she had a right to be heard 
•?ri"ff *' ^^' S'i''ce her interests were at stake. All must submit to 
death, but not to exile, dishonor, and the loss of the impe- 
rial dignity. She did not wish to live if she could not 
retain her rank as empress. If the emperor wished, he 
might flee, he had gold which he could take with him, the 
sea was at hand, and ships were ready. But she preferred 
to remain and die, since the imperial throne would be a 
glorious tomb. At her words, Justinian regained his cour- 
age and sent the imperial guard under Belisarius to attack 
the rioters, who had taken possession of the circus. The 
mob were taken off their guard ; Belisarius put thousands 
to death, among them all the leaders. The power of the 
The fac- factions was thus broken. The city was now helpless in 

st°"^ ^a' *^^ emperor's hands, and he was consequently free to turn 
his attention to the larger policy on which he had already 
set his heart. 
The Emper- This policy was to recover all the lost provinces and re- 
German" ^'■^^^ ^'^^ empire in all its extent. This necessitated the 
policy. destruction of the German kingdoms, and Justinian turned 

his attention to the west. His conquest of the Vandals 
in Africa and of the East Goths in Italy has already been 
mentioned. He also attacked the West Goths in Spain 
(551), but was successful only in gaining a few places on 
the coast. By his intrigues, the German tribes north of 
the Danube, such as the Lombards, Gepidae, and Heruli, 
Unsuccess- were kept at war with each other. But Justinian's anti- 

ful in his German policy was destined to fail because he was dis- 
plans. 

tracted from it by the wars which he was compelled to 



Rcactio)i of the Empire against Germans 41 

wage with the Persians, the Slavs, the Avars, and the Bul- 
garians. Persia, under its great king, Chosroes I. (531- Persia. 
79), was at the height of its power, and Justinian was not 
able to cope successfully with this hereditary foe. His 
victory over the East Goths was delayed more than once, 
because he was compelled to use all his forces in the east; 
but in spite of his exertions he was defeated by the Per- 
sians, compelled to pay tribute, and to surrender some of 
his territory in the east. The Slavs also interfered with The Slavs. 
Justinian's plans. As the Germans deserted the territory 
south of the Baltic, the Slavs followed them and took pos- 
session of all the land as far west as the Elbe. They fol- 
lowed hard upon the heels of the withdrawing Bavarians, 
occupying Bohemia, Moravia, and many parts of modern 
Austria. More than once they crossed the Danube, rav- 
aged the provinces, and even threatened Constantinople. 
They pressed into the Balkan peninsula and made settle- 
ments, which have grown into the modern Bosnia, Dal- 
matia, Servia, and other Slavic principalities, now subject 
either to Turkey or Austria. A little later they colonized 
Greece. The Peloponnesus was so completely occupied by 
them that it came to be called Slavonia. 

The Bulgarians were originally a Ural-Altaic people, The Bulgar- 
but they came into Europe, settled among some Slavic '^"®' 
tribes, and were absorbed by them. Nothing was left but 
their name, which came to be applied to the Slavs with 
whom they had fused. They lost their language, customs, 
and nationality, and became thoroughly Slavic. Year 
after year this mixed people invaded the empire and de- 
vastated many of its fairest districts. It was not till about 
680 that they settled in the territory which they now oc- 
cupy. 

In 558 the Avars (the Cotrigur Huns) invaded the em- xhe Avars, 
pire from the east. After doing much damage they finally 



42 The Mediccz'al Period 

established, on the middle Danube, the kingdom of the 
Avars, which later was destroyed by Karl the Great. 

Luckily at the very time of Justinian's opposition to the 
Germans, the Germanic element in the empire was strength- 
New Ger- ened by the formation of the great tribe of the Bavarians, 
man tribes, j-j^^ settlement of the Lombards in Italy, and the growth of 
the Franks (which latter will be described in the succeed- 
ing chapter). 

Some German tribes known as the Marcomanni had at 
one time occupied Bohemia (Bajahemum), from which they 
received the name Bavarians (Bajavarii, men of Bohemia). 
Shortly after 487 they left Bohemia and took possession 
of the territory which now bears their name and from which 
they were never afterward removed. 

After various wanderings, the Lombards had settled in 
Pannonia. They had become allies of the empire, and, at 
the instigation of Justinian, had made war on the Heruli, 
and then on the Gepid?e. Justinian had feared them, but 
did not live to see their invasion. After his successful 
completion of the war with the East Goths, Narses had 
been made exarch of Italy, with his residence at Ravenna. 
To avenge his ill-treatment at the hands of Justin II., the 
The Lorn- successor of Justinian, he is said to have invited the Lom- 
It^lv^ ^" bards to invade Italy, promising not to interfere with them. 

568-774. They came under their king Alboin (568), bringing frag- 

ments of other tribes with them. They occupied northern 
Italy, and Pavia became their capital. They then moved to 
the south, and, after overrunning a large part of Italy, es- 
tablished the duchies of Benevento and Spoleto. Alboin 
was soon murdered, and a leader named Cleph was made 
king. Cleph ruled less than a year, meeting with the same 
fate as his predecessor. For about ten years the Lombards, 
broken up into bands and groups, each under a duke or 
hej'zog, existed without a king. The idea of kingship was 



Reaction of the Empire against Germans 43 

not yet thoroughly developed among them, and they felt 
that a king was not necessary to their existence. They con- 
sequently reverted to the forms of government which they 
had had before entering the empire. It is said that there 
were thirty-five such dukes reigning among them at one 
time. They were surrounded by enemies, and their divided 
condition was a cause of great weakness. About 580 they 
became convinced that they needed a king and elected 
Authari ; but the dukes had already become too powerful 
and Authari was never completely master. The duchies of 
Benevento and Spoleto were only nominally subject to him. 
The territory thus wrested from the empire was firmly held, 
but the Lombards could not conquer all Italy. Ravenna, 
the extreme southern part, and the duchy of Rome still re- 
mained in the hands of the emperor. Unlike all the other 
Germans, many of the Lombards settled in the cities and 
towns. Their urban residence undoubtedly had much to 
do with the early development of the Italian cities, the 
mediaeval grandeur of which was due, in part at least, to 
the German blood of their citizens. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

The Justinian Code. Adams, Civilization During the Middle Ages, pp. 31- 

37. $2.50. Scribner. Milman, Bk. III., Chap. V. Gibbon, /?t'wa» 

Empire, Chap. XLIV. 
The Lombards. Bury, The Later Roman Empire, II., pp. 145-158 and 499- 

509. $6.00. Macmillan. Oman, irz<ro/<', 476-918. Chaps. XI., XVI., 

and XX. $1.75. Macmillan. 



CHAPTER III 



Consolida- 
tion of the 
Franks by 
Chlodwig. 

486 A.D. 



Conquest of 
the Alaman- 
ni, 496. 



THE FRANKS, 481 814 

LITERATURE.— Henderson, H istory of Gerjnany in the Middle Ages. $2.60. 
Macmillan. 

'K.\\x.\\\'a., History of France, Vol.1. 3 Vols. $2.60 each. Clarendon. 

Menzel, History of Germany, Vol. I. 3 Vols. $1.00 per vol. Mac- 
millan. 

'L.e.'wis, Histojy ofGeri>iany. $1.50. Harper. 

^ryce, Holy Roman Empire. $1.00. Macmillan. 

Chntzh, The Beginnings of ike Middle Ages. $1.00. Scribner. Emer- 
\ov\. Introduction to Study of the Middle Ages. $1.25. Ginn. Thatcher 
and Schwill, Europe in tlie Middle Ages. $2.00. Scribner. Guizot, 
T/ie History of Civilization. $1.50. Appleton. 

\io&Z\i\n, Charles the Great. $0.75. Macmillan. 

Cutts, Charlemagne. 2S. 6s. Society for Promoting Christian 

Knowledge. 
Momhert, Charles the Great. $5.00. Appleton. 
'WcWs, Age of Charlemagne. .$2.00. Scribner. 
Fisher, Mediceval Empire. 2 Vols. $7.00. Macmillan. 

In 481 Chlodwig became king of a small tribe of Salian 
Franks. By force or fraud he overcame, one after an- 
other, all the petty kings about him, and slowly gathered 
the many Prankish tribes under his sceptre. His first im- 
portant victory was gained over Syagrius, a Roman ofificial, 
who was then governing a large district between the Loire 
and the Seine. Chlodwig took possession of the territory 
thus conquered and so extended his power to the Loire 
(486). In 496 he conquered the Alamanni, and in con- 
sequence of his victory accepted the orthodox form of 
Christianity and was baptized with a large number of his 
people. The bishop of Rheims, who performed the rite, 
addressed him as a second Constantine, and told him it 
was his duty to protect, defend, and extend the Church. 

44 



The Franks 45 



This conversion of Chlodvvig and the Franks to the or- 
thodox faith was the foundation and beginning of the 
famous alhance between the bishops of Rome and the 
Prankish kings, which, with interruptions, lasted for cen- 
turies, and profoundly modified the course of events. 

Chlodwig continued his conquests by depriving the The Frank- 
West Goths of nearly all their territory north of the Pyre- jivided^'^"'" 
nees. When he died, in 511, he divided his kingdom 
among his four sons, who, in spite of frequent civil wars, Prankish 
were able to extend their boundaries. In 531 Thuringia conquests, 
was acquired ; in 534 Burgundy was added to their pos- 
sessions; and in 555 Bavaria was reduced to subjection. 
All this territory was united under Chlothar (558-61), 
only to be again divided among his four sons at his death ; 
but neither was this division permanent. The Franks in 
the west were slowly yielding to Roman influences, and 
were becoming separated from the Franks in the east, who 
still remained more thoroughly German and warlike. The 
fact that the two districts were under different kings, who 
were for many years hostile to each other, helped increase 
and perpetuate the differences between them, so that they 
received different names and were regarded as different 
kingdoms. The eastern part was called Austrasia, and the Austrasia 
western Neustria. During the last half of the sixth century ^j-jg^ 
these two kingdoms were disturbed by civil wars, the lead- 
ing spirits in which were the rival queens Fredegonda and 
Brunhilda. 

Since the days of Chlodwig an important office had been 
developed at the court of the Frankish kings. As the king 
grew in power and importance, his household increased 
accordingly. Over this household he placed a chief ser- 
vant, called major doftms, or mayor of the palace, who was 
responsible for its management. This office, at first servile. The major 
soon took on a political character. The major domus al- ^^^"""s. 



46 The Mcdicrval Period 

ways had the ear of the king ; all access to the king was 
through him ; his influence therefore became great. Grad- 
ually he became the king's intimate adviser, and the orig- 
inal character of his office disappeared. It must be noted, 
The nobility too, that there was a major domus in each kingdom. The 
tr^\*^ f th °"" "o^l^'S ^^^^y ^^^^^ ^° control the appointment of the major 
office. domus, unsuccessfully, however, till a mere child succeeded 

to the throne of Austrasia, when the nobles got possession 
of the boy and appointed one of their own number major 
domus and regent. Since the king was a child, the major 
domus had every opportunity to increase his own power, 
and the king was never again his own master. 
Dagobert. Dagobert, who was king over all the Franks (628-38), 

was the last to enjoy any great amount of independent au- 
thority. After him there came the "do-nothing kings," 
who had no share in the government and were kept only as 
figure-heads. The major domus exercised royal authority 
without having the royal name. At the death of Dagobert 
the office of major domus in Austrasia became hereditary in 
the family of Pippin the Elder. This Pippin was the lord 
of two estates, known as Landen and Heristhal. Arnulf, 
Union of the bishop of Metz, was married, as were many of the clergy 
families of ^ ^j^^^ ^ ^j^^j ]^jg ggj^ Ansegisil married the daughter of 
Pippin and -" ° ,. 1 r 

Arnulf. Pippin. From this union sprang the hne known (from 

their most splendid representative, Karl the Great) as the 

Karlings. Pippin passed his office of major domus on to 

his son Grimoald, who lost his life in an attempt to usurp 

the title of king for his son. The people were still too 

much attached to their royal house, and the nobles were 

too jealous of Grimoald, to permit this change. 

Pippin of Pippin the Yoimger, or Pippin of Heristhal, as he is 

Heristhal called, seized the office of major domus and practically 
majordomus ' j >. j 

(687-714). ruled Austrasia. After a long war he made himself master 
of Neustria also (687-714), thus ruhng over the whole 



The Franks 47 



Frankland. He began a policy which was to be followed 
by his successors and to bear its legitimate fruit in the 
kingdom of Karl the Great. He strove to consolidate his 
vast territories; to bring them under one central govern- 
ment ; to render this government as nearly absolute as 
possible, and to make the people of his kingdom homo- 
geneous. His son, Karl Martel, who succeeded him (714- Karl Mattel 
41), continued this work. His reign was full of wars, ^7i4"4i)- 
because, whenever an opportunity was given, some part of 
the kingdom revolted. One after another, the Frisians, 
the Neustrians, the Thuringians, the Bavarians, the Ala- 
manni, and the people of Aquitaine rebelled, only to be 
put down by arms. The Mohammedans invaded Frank- 
land from Spain (720), but Karl Martel met them at The battle 
Tours and broke their powers so completely (732) that %o2\^^^ 
they were never able to establish themselves north of the 
Pyrenees. 

Before Karl Martel died he divided the power between 
his two sons, Karlman and Pippin. The brothers ruled 
together harmoniously till Karlman resigned and went into 
a monastery, leaving Pippin sole major domus. Deeming 
that the time was now ripe. Pippin laid his plans for ob- Pippin be- 
taining the royal title. He sent an embassy to Rome to J^T^^ ^"^ 
ask pope Zacharias who should be king : the one who had 
the title without the power, or the one who had the power 
without the title. The pope, who was looking abroad for 
an ally, replied that it seemed to him that the one who had 
the power should also be king ; and acting on this. Pippin 
called an assembly of his nobles at Soissons (751), deposed 
the last phantom king of the Merovingian line, and was 
himself elected and anointed king. 

Pippin's invasions of Lombardy and his service to the Karl the 
oppressed papacy will be described later. Before his death 814)^ 
(768) he divided his kingdom between his two sons, Karl- 



48 



The Mcdiaval Period 



Karl con- 
quers the 
Lombards. 



The Saxon 
wars. 



Karl's other 
conquests. 



man and Karl — ^bitter enemies — and civil war was averted 
only by the death of Karlman (771). 

The quarrel between the pope and the Lombards broke 
out again, and as Karl had a private grudge against the 
latter, he was easily persuaded to interfere on behalf of the 
pope. He invaded Lombardy, conquered its king, Desi- 
derius, and ijiade himself king of the Lombards. He then 
renewed the gift of his father, Pippin, to the pope. The 
conquest of the Lombards was of great importance because 
it brought Karl into close relations with Italy and the 
papacy. 

Equally important for other reasons was the subjugation 
of the Saxons. For more than thirty years (772-804) Karl 
was engaged in fighting them. Year after year he overran 
their territory and received their submission and their 
promise to accept Christianity ; but as soon as he with- 
drew his army they would revolt, destroy the churches, 
slay the Christian priests, and revert to heathenism. But 
Karl eventually wore them out and they submitted to his 
rule. He divided the land into bishoprics and established 
bishops at Minden, Paderborn, Verden, Bremen, Osna- 
brueck, and Halberstadt. These places quickly grew into 
towns and became centres of life and civilization, and 
roads were built to connect them, to facilitate travel and 
trade. 

Karl's reign was one long campaign. Revolts in Bavaria 
called him into that duchy, and in 787 he removed its 
duke and placed it under counts of his own appointment. 
It required several campaigns to destroy the kingdom of 
the Avars on the middle Danube. The Slavs between the 
Elbe and the Oder were subjugated by Karl, and Bohemia 
was compelled to pay him tribute. Toward the end of his 
reign the Norsemen troubled the northern frontier. The 
Mohammedans in Spain Karl drove beyond the Ebro, and 



The Franks 49 



his fleets contended with the naval forces of the Mohamme- 
dans on the Mediterranean Sea for the possession of Sardinia, 
Corsica, and other islands. In the south of Italy his troops 
even came into conflict with the army of the Greek emperor, 
but there was little fighting between them. Fortunate in 
all his wars, Karl succeeded in extending his boundaries in 
all directions. It was this series of splendid conquests which 
laid the foundations for the renewal of the empire and the 
imperial title in the west. 

Tlie west, as we have seen, had for a long time been The idea of 
practically separated from the empire. Yet the idea still ^.'"'orld em- 
prevailed that there must be an empire ; that it was neces- 
sary to the existing order of things ; that without an em- 
pire the world could not stand, and that, in fact, the west 
was still a part of the empire. The Church had striven to 
become universal, and by insisting on ecclesiastical unity 
had helped keep alive the idea of political unity. The 
bishops of Rome had recognized the emperor at Constan- 
tinople as their lord ; but during the eighth century a quar- 
rel had arisen and the popes had thrown off their allegiance 
and were looking for a protector elsewhere. The great 
power of the Frankish kingdom and its close alliance with 
the bishops of Rome were the conditions without which 
the revival of the empire in the west would have l)een im- 
possible. 

There was in Rome a party which was laboring for The repubh'- 
the independence of Rome and the revival of her ancient jfiL^^"^*^ *" 
power. They were beginning to dream the dreams which 
troubled the Middle Age so much, dreams about restoring 
the Rome of the ancient republic, and making her once 
more the head of the world. In their way, however, was 
the pope, who was trying to govern Rome in a more or 
less autocratic manner. In 798 this party organized a re- 
volt, maltreated Leo III., preferred charges of perjury and 



;o 



The Mcdicoval Period 



Coronation 
of Karl 
(80 oj. 



Grounds for 
the revolt. 



adultery against him, and drove him from Rome. He fled 
to Karl the Great and begged to be restored. Karl sent 
him back to Rome under the protection of his officials, 
and himself followed later. After Leo took an oath that 
he was innocent of the crimes with which he was charged, 
Karl reinstated him in his office. Then, on Christmas 
day, 800, while Karl was kneeling in the church of St. 
Peter at Rome, the pope, without a word of warning, 
placed the imperial crown on his head and did him rev- 
erence; and all the people present shouted and hailed him 
emperor. Karl was taken by surprise. He was indeed 
striving to obtain the crown, but he wished to get it in a 
legitimate way, either by marrying Irene, empress in the 
east, or by getting her to recognize him as her colleague 
and emperor in the west. He was, in fact, turning both 
plans over in his mind when his coronation by the pope 
forestalled him and cut across his plans and, worst of all, 
made him in his own eyes a usurper. He knew that the 
pope had no legal right to give him the crown. It was an 
act of open rebellion against the emperor at Constantino- 
l)le, although one for which the pope thought he had good 
and sufficient grounds. The emperors had for many years 
not done their duty to the western Church and especially 
to the popes. By force of circumstances the emperor was 
limited in his activities almost wholly to the east, while the 
pope's interests and authority were limited to the west. 
Whenever the emperor had interfered in the west, it had 
generally been to the disadvantage of the pope ; small won- 
der, then, that he was ready to revolt and transfer his alle- 
giance to another. Added to this was the fact that the 
east was smirched with the heresy of hostility to the use of 
images. The west was shocked, too, that for the first time 
in its history the throne was held by a woman ; and not 
only was the sovereign a woman, she was also guilty of 



The Franks 51 



inhuman cruelty, for she had deposed, imprisoned, and 
blinded her son, Constantine VI. This action of the pope 
also fell in with the prevailing desire of the people of 
Rome to restore their city to the place of honor which 
she had once had, but which was now held by Constanti- 
nople. 

There were good reasons why Karl should be elevated to 
this high position. By conquest he had built up an em- 
pire which included all the west of Europe ; he had in cer- 
tain directions even extended the boundary of the empire, 
and had everywhere established, protected, and promoted 
tlie Church, and preserved order and peace ; he was, there- 
fore, the only possible candidate the west had to offer. Karl the 
The pope had also a selfish motive. His position in Rome S" ^ in'the 
was no longer sure. The republican party in the city had west, 
driven him out once, and would do so again if the oppor- 
tunity were offered. The pope knew that he could hold 
his place in Rome only with the aid of Karl. By being 
crowned emperor, Karl was made responsible for the pres- 
ervation of peace and order in Rome. The pope could 
therefore hope for Karl's support and protection, since the 
emperor would not tolerate the independence of Rome nor 
allow the principal bishop in the west to be driven from 
his place. 

Karl's surprise and displeasure were great, but he did not 
refuse the crown. He assumed the title, but at the same 
time began negotiations with Constantinople, looking tow- 
ard the confirmation of his newly acquired honor. But 
the emperors in the east were for a long time inexorable ; 
they refused him all recognition and heaped insults upon 
him. Karl, however, preserved a conciliatory attitude, Y". °^' 
and finally obtained what he so earnestly desired. In 812 recognition 

he was greeted as " Imperator " and " Basileus " by the oftheeast- 
° ' •' ern court 

ambassadors of the eastern court. The defect in his title (812). 



52 The Mediccz'al Period 

was thereby removed, and Karl troubled himself no fur- 
ther about Constantinople. 

The coronation of Karl was, as has been said, a rebel- 
lious, and therefore an illegal, act. Although Karl contin- 
ued to recognize the existence of the emperors at Con- 
stantinople, the people in the west believed that they were 
deposing the eastern line and restoring the supremacy of 
the west. In their lists of emperors the name of Karl 
directly follows that of Constantine VI. It was, and they 
meant that it should be, a revolt. At the time there was 
no attempt made to give a legal explanation of it or to 
Three theo- make any theory about it ; but later three legal theories 
"^®' were advanced by different parties, each of which wished 

to make capital out of the event. The imperial party 
declared that Karl had won the crown by his conquests, 
and was indebted to no one for it but himself. This the- 
ory was based on truth, for Karl had conquered great ter- 
ritories, and but for this would not have been even thought 
of for emperor. The papal party said that the pope, by 
virtue of his power as successor of the Apostle Peter, had 
deposed the emperor at Constantinople and conferred the 
crown on Karl. This was based on the fact that the pope 
actually crowned Karl ; but at that time no one supposed 
for a moment that the pope was crowning him by virtue 
of any such power. Such an interpretation was not 
thought of till long after. The people of Rome also ad- 
vanced a theory to the effect that they had elected Karl, 
and that they had revived their ancient right of electing 
the emperor. This theory had in its favor little more than 
the fact that the people had sanctioned the action of their 
leader by their shouts and acclamations. 
Effects of Such was the famous restoration of the empire in the 

west, a most important act, because of the great influence 
it had on the later history. It bound Italy and Germany 



the restora- 
tion. 



The Franks 53 



together in a union which, while it had its compensations, 
was, on the whole, ruinous to both, at least politically. 
In consequence of this coronation of Karl, for seven hun- 
dred years the German emperors were unable to free them- 
selves from the idea that they must rule Italy, and they 
continually wasted their strength in useless campaigns in 
Italy, instead of extending Germany to the east, the only 
direction in which there was possibility of success. They 
wore themselves out in Italy, but were never able to unite 
Germany. The best days of her best emperors were spent 
on Italian soil, and the political unification of Germany 
was made impossible until our own times. 

The coronation of Karl greatly increased his prestige, 
and, indirectly, his power. "Emperor" was far more 
than " king," and brought with it many more duties and 
obligations. Karl regarded himself as much exalted by Karl's con- 
the new office. The emperor was supposed to hold his h^g J^"e 
office directly from God, to whom alone he was responsi- 
ble for everything he did. This is apparent from some of 
Karl's measures for governing. Shortly after his corona- 
tion he compelled all his subjects to take a special oath to 
himself as emperor, the peculiarity of which was that all 
were required to swear that they would live not only as 
good citizens, but also as good Christians. The emperor 
assumed responsibility for the Christian living of his sub- 
jects. 

For carrying on the government of his vast territory Karl's gov- 
Karl had to invent new forms and adapt old ones. He ^^"'"^'it. 
held " mayfields " according to the old German custom, 
but it was impossible for all his subjects to attend them. 
Large numbers of them came, however, especially because 
the campaigns were planned in these meetings, and it was 
expected that the armies would proceed at once to the war. 
He divided his territory into counties and placed over each 



54 



Tlic Mediccval Period 



Dukes dis- 
appear. 



Missi 
inici. 



Counts. a count {Graf). In the west the cities with the surround- 

ing country formed these counties ; in the east they were 
formed by the old tribal boundaries, while on the frontiers 
new districts were organized (marches or Markgrafschaften) 
and placed under border counts. The counts were held 
responsible for the administration of the government in 
their counties. 

The dukes and duchies of Aquitaine, Alamannia, Sax- 
ony, and Bavaria disappeared, because they were too strong 
a menace to the unity of the empire. Only the dukes of 
Benevento, Brittany, and Gascony remained, and they 
were simply Karl's officers and not independent. 

In order to put a check on all the officers of his realm, 
and to control them, Karl sent out special commissioners, 
Dom- called '■'■ Alissi Dominici,^'' or royal messengers, whose duty 
it was to oversee all that was done by the local officers. 
They were to inquire into the conduct of all officials, and 
of the clergy as well. Appeals were made to them, and 
any misconduct on the part of any officer was reported to 
them. They were generally sent out in twos, one of them 
being a clergyman. They looked after the condition of 
the army, the collection of the taxes, the state of the 
churches and schools, the morals of the clergy, and the 
administration of justice as well as of things in general. 
In this way Karl was kept fully conversant with the affairs 
of both Church and state throughout his kingdom. The 
clergy were also regarded as officers of the state, and they 
had certain civil duties. They and the counts were sup- 
posed to work together in harmony, and mutually to assist 
each other ; but there were at bottom the same unsettled 
relations between the clergy and the counts as between the 
emperor and the pope ; the authority, rights, and duties 
of each were not clearly defined. 

Karl himself by his own personal efforts gave unity to the 



The Franks 55 



government and did much of the actual work of governing. Karl's per- 
sonal goi 
ernment. 



He was busy moving from one part of the reahii to another, g^"^ ^?^" 
fighting, administering justice, conducting trials, settling 
difficulties, and, in general, keeping the machinery of gov- 
ernment in motion. 

His military system did not differ from that of his prede- His military 
cessors. At his summons all his free subjects were supposed ^y^^^"^* 
to come prepared to begin a campaign. But the frequency 
of his wars and their great distance from home made them 
very burdensome, and many began to try to escape military 
service. A compromise was effected by which a certain 
number of men were allowed to equip one man and send 
him as their representative. Karl also built a fleet to guard 
the coast, and especially the mouths of rivers, which latter 
he often fortified. 

As a lawgiver he was also active, although there is little Karl as law- 
that is remarkable in his legislation. He tried to preserve S'^^^- 
the old German laws and customs, which he caused to be 
reduced to writing. His own laws are a curious mixture 
of German, Roman, and biblical elements. Since his em- 
pire was Christian, the Bible was the very highest author- 
ity, and all laws vvere to be in harmony with it. It did 
indeed color much of his legislation. 

As a builder Karl achieved a great reputation. He built As builder, 
many churches, the principal one of which was the church 
of St. Mary at Aachen. He built a great palace for him- 
self at Aachen, another at Ingelheim, near Mainz, and an- 
other at Nijmegen. He also built a bridge over the Rhine 
at Mainz, but it was destro)'ed by fire before his death. 
His architects were mostly Italians. Many pillars and 
other building materials were brought from Italy at incred- 
ible expense and labor. The style of his architecture was 
undoubtedly a derived Byzantine, for the buildings of Ra- 
venna were his models. 



so 



The Mediaeval Period 



His attitude 

toward 

learning. 



Karl's in- 
terest in his 
schools. 

Monk of St. 
Gall, The 
Deeds of 
Karl the 
Great, I., 3. 



Probably the most remarkable of all Karl's activities was 
his educational work. He drew to his court some of the 
most learned men of his day, among them Alcuin, Paulus 
Diaconus, and Peter of Pisa. He formed his court into a 
palace school (^scola palatind), all the members of which 
assumed either classical or biblical names. Karl called 
himself David. The sessions of this school were held 
mostly in the winter, because in the summer Karl was en- 
gaged in his wars. His learned men gave lectures, and 
there were many discussions of the subjects broached. The 
clergy of the empire were, on the whole, very ignorant, 
many of them too ignorant to preach, and Karl caused a 
volume of sermons to be prepared for their use. He estab- 
lished cathedral schools, the most prominent of which were 
at Rheims and Orleans, and monastery schools, such as 
those of St. Gall, Tours, Reichenau, Fulda, Hersfeld, and 
Corvey. The.se were especially for the education of the 
clergy, but they were open to laymen as well. In fact, 
Karl had thoughts of a state system of public instruction. 
He established two schools of music, one at Metz, the other 
at Soissons, and asked the pope to send him priests who 
could give instruction in the style of singing practised in 
Italy. 

Among the many stories about Karl, which the monk of 
St. Gall collected, is one that shows the interest which Karl 
took in the work of the schools. Returning to Aachen 
after a long absence, Karl ordered all the scholars to show 
him the results of their studies. The sons of the high no- 
bility were unable to produce any proofs of their industry, 
while those of common birth laid before him many of their 
compositions in the form of letters, poems, and other docu- 
ments, all well composed according to the models then in 
vogue. Karl thundered out his displeasure at the idle ones, 
rebuking them for their trust in their liigh birth, and for 



The Franks 57 



spending their time in sports and in idleness. He warned 
them that if they continued in this course they need never 
expect any gifts or preferment from him. The others he 
commended for their industry and obedience, and urged 
them to labor to perfect their education, promising to hold 
all such in high honor and to reward them with good bish- 
oprics and abbeys. 

This manifold activity amounted to a real revival of learn- Effects of 
ing, which bore fruit in the ninth century in the great dis- .^. ^ " 
putations about foreordination and transubstantiation, as Learning," 
well as in the literature of that period. The great emphasis 
placed on classical Latin had some very important effects. 
In the first place, it purified the Latin of the Church, but 
at the same time widened the chasm between the spoken and 
the written Latin. The spoken Latin had now become a 
dialect, very different from the written language. This 
vulgar speech was the beginning of the French language, 
and its development and use as a literary language were 
hastened by the revival of classical Latin. The interest in 
the classics led to the multiplication of manuscripts and the 
preservation of the works of Latin authors which would 
otherwise have perished, and it also determined that the 
Latin should be the language of education during the Mid- 
dle Age. 

Karl also loved his own tongue, the German. He caused Karl a Ger- 
a grammar of it to be made, attempting thus to make of it '"^"' 
a literary language by reducing it to regular forms. He 
made a collection of the German songs and legends which 
were probably the earliest forms of some of the stories in 
the " Nibelungen Lied," but his son Ludwig, to our great 
loss, had this destroyed because of its heathenism. 

The attitude of Karl to the Church has already been Karl and the 
shown. He regarded it as his special duty to defend the Church. 
Church and to extend it by converting the heathen. The 



58 The Mcdiccval Period 

motive of many of his wars was (]uite as much rehgious as 
political. He took care that the conquered lands should 
be supplied with churches and clergy. He regarded him- 
self as the master of the Church by virtue of the office which 
he held. He controlled the election of bishops and arch- 
bishops, and sometimes even appointed them. The organ- 
, ization of the Cluirch, begun in a systematic way by Boni- 
face, was completed by him. He exercised the right of 
calling ecclesiastical councils, presided over them, and 
signed the decrees, which would otherwise have been in- 
valid. Under him the Church had no independent power 
of legislation. The clergy, as well as the laymen, were 
subject to the laws of the empire. Karl was the first to 
make the payment of tithes obligatory. During the first 
seven centuries of the Church, the tithe was practically un- 
known, being at that time only the traditional and custo- 
mary rent paid for the use of lands. Karl tried to make 
this payment binding on the lands whic h he conquered, 
especially on the Saxons. This tenth, being paid for the 
support of the Church, brought about a change in the con- 
ception of tithing. It was then identified with the tithe of 
the Old Testament, and in time made compulsory through- 
out all Christian countries. 

But Karl's authority over the Church extended still 
fiirther. He claimed the right to determine the polity, 
ritual, and even the doctrines of the Church. In 787 the 
empress Irene called a council to meet at Nicaea which 
should settle the question of the use of images in the 
churches. This council, under the protection of Irene, de- 
clared in favor of their use and sent its decrees or decisions 
Karl and to pope Hadrian (772-95). Hadrian, however, who had 
^ °P^" all the time favored the use of images, was pleased with the 
decisions, sanctioned them, and sent them to Karl asking that 
they be published. But Karl was of a different opinion. 



The Franks 59 



and calling a council of his bishops, in 794, caused the ac- 
tion of the council at Nic^a to be refuted. The refuta- 
tion (the Libfi Caroliiii) was sent to pope Hadrian with 
a reprimand, and a command that in the future he should 
wait in all such matters until Karl had given his consent. 
In another letter he reminded the pope that it was his 
special duty to pray, and not to interfere in the affairs of 
state, which belonged to the emperor alone. Karl un- 
doubtedly was, and was regarded, as the highest authority 
in the west ; distinctly superior to the pope in all political 
matters, and practically so in ecclesiastical affairs. There 
was no legal determination of the mutual relations and pow- 
ers of the emperor and the pope, for the theoretical ques- 
tion was not yet broached. Both emperor and pope made 
claims which were mutually opposed and conflicting, but 
there was no theoretical treatment of the question of their 
respective rights and authorities. The pope claimed to be 
the successor of St. Peter, the bishop of the whole Church, 
and therefore he must have authority over the whole 
Church ; but Karl was the Christian emperor, the ruler of 
the world wnth absolute authority. The adjustment of 
these claims was not to be reached till after centuries of 
struggle for supremacy. 

In Karl is found that peculiar fusion of German, Roman, 
and biblical elements which characterizes the Middle Age. 
In his dress, speech, manners, and sympathies he was a 
German, but judging him by his notions and practice of 
government he was a Roman, largely affected by biblical 
conceptions and ideas. He was a Roman emperor who 
attempted to establish a theocracy. He was absolute mas- 
ter of the west, and his reputation was so great that his 
friendship was sought even by the great khalif, Haroun-ar- 
Raschid, of Bagdad, who wished to see his rebellious Sara- 
cen subjects of Spain punished. 



Oo The Mediccval Period 

Einhard's His counsellor and private secretary, Einhard, has left 

Biography. ^^^ ^ \[xQ\y picture of Karl. Without doubt he was one of 
the greatest men of all time. No one has ever more thor- 
oughly taken hold of the imagination of the people. For 
centuries after his death the popular imagination was busy 
with his name and deeds, and the impression which he 
made on the world found expression in a vast cycle of le- 
gends, all of which were confidently believed during the 
Middle Age. 

He died January 28, 814, at Aachen, from pleurisy, and 
was buried the same day in the great church which lie had 
built. "A gilded arch was erected above his tomb, with 
his image and an inscription. The words of the inscription 
were as follows : ' In this tomb, lies the body of Karl the 
Great and Orthodox Emperor, who gloriously extended the 
kingdom of the Franks and reigned prosperously for forty- 
seven years. He died at the age of seventy, in the year 01 
our Lord 814, the seventh indiction, on the 28th day of 
January.' " ^ 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Alci'in AND Education. MnWingzr, The Sc7tooh of Charles the Great. 7s., 

6d. Longmans. West, Alcuin. $1.00. Scribner. 

2. -Karl THE Great. Hodgkin, Mombert, Cutts, 'E,\n\\z.x^, Life of Karl the 

Great. $0.25. Harper. Bury, II., pp. 499-509. Milman, Bk. IV., 
Chap. XII. Bk. V., Chap. I. 

' Einhard, p. 71. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE DISMEMBERMENT OF THE EMPIRE 

LITERATURE.— Emerton, Medieval Europe. Oman, Europe, 476-918. 
See also the lists in Chaps. I. and III. 

Karl had indeed acquired a vast empire and by his great 
personal ability governed it well. But he could not in so 
short a time make the various peoples who composed his 
realm homogeneous. A common religious faith and a com- 
mon government were not sufificient to overcome the differ- 
ences which existed .n race, tribe, temperament, customs, 
and language. As soon, therefore, as Karl's commanding 
personality was removed, these differences began to reas- 
sert themselves. Karl had made a brilliant attempt to 
reorganize society after the model of the Roman empire. 
He failed, and his kingdom went to pieces, partly because Causes of 
of the weakness of his successors, under whom lands, office, 
and authority were usurped by their officials. Another 
cause of dismemberment was the actual partition of the 
empire among the sons in the royal family, the empire 
being regarded as a private possession and divided among 
the heirs. The disintegration was further brought about 
by the racial differences that existed in the realm, and by 
the forces set in operation by the invasion of the barba- 
rians. The Germans were intensely ambitious and proud. 
Individualism was one of their most prominent characteris- 
tics. In the then existing state of society the only legiti- 
mate exercise of ability and ambition was in the practice 
of arms. Since this was the only way to rise, it is not sur- 
prising that we should now come upon a period of vio- 

61 



disintegra- 
tion. 



C2 TJic Mcdiaval Period 

lence and lawlessness in which might determined every- 
thing. Although Karl's realm went to i)ieces, during his 
reign its various parts had all been subjected to influences 
which modified their future. 

The dissolution of the empire made rapid strides under 

Ludwig the Karl's son, Ludwig the Pious (814—40), a prince who 
'°"^" lacked all the qualities which made his father great. His 

education had been intrusted to the clergy, with most un- 
fortunate results. He was better fitted for the monastery 
than the throne, and more than once actually wished to lay 
down his crown and enter the cloister. His conscience 
was abnormally developed and thoroughly morbid. He 
magnified his petty faults into great sins, and was contin- 
ually doing penance for them when he should have been 
attending to the affairs of state. He altogether lacked the 
sterner qualities neces.sary for governing in a time of vio- 
lence and barbarism. Without will or purpose he was in 
turn the slave of his wife, his clergy, and his sons. Karl 

His three- the Great, about six months before his death, IkkI crowned 

fold corona- Lmj^ig as his successor. On his accession Ludwig re- 
tion. ^ . ° 

peated the coronation, placing the crown upon his own 

head. In S15 Pope Leo IH. died, and the people of Rome 
elected his successor, Stephen IV., without asking the con- 
sent or sanction of Ludwig, an insult and infringement of 
his prerogatives which the emperor did not resent. The 
pope followed up the advantage thus gained, and told the 
emperor that his coronation was invalid because it had not 
been performed by the clergy, and proposed to come into 
France and recrown him. Again Ludwig yielded, and was 
crowned a third time by Stephen IV., at Rheims (816-17). 
Another precedent was thereby established for the claim 
made by the popes that they alone had the right to crown 
the emperor. 

The reign of Ludwig was full of stupid blunders. In his 



The Dismemberment of the Empire 63 

zeal for reform he drove from his court ihe able counsellors Ludwig's 
of Karl the Great, because their lives did not seem to him ''^"""^^s. 
sufficiently ascetic. He released nearly all the monasteries 
of his realm from all duties to the state except that of pray- 
ing for the welfare of the emperor, his children, and the 
state, thus depriving the crown of a large income, and fos- 
tering in the Church the idea of separation and indepen- 
dence. He closed the monastery schools to the laity, was 
lavish in his gifts to both monasteries and churches, and 
was always surrounded by monks and priests. In 817 he 
committed the unpardonable blunder of dividing his em- 
pire among his three sons and associating them with him- 
self in the government. The division led to jealousies, 
intrigues, and war. Instead of boldly facing the problems 
and difficulties that beset him, Ludwig spent his time in 
doing penance, and offended against the dignity of his 
office by appearing in the garb of a penitent before a great 
council of the clergy and nobility, and making humble 
confession of imaginary sins. Yielding to the importu- 
nities of Judith, his second wife, he deprived two of his 
sons by his first wife of some of their territory in order to 
make a principality for his youngest son, Charles. Revolt 
and war were the result, and the last years of his life were 
filled with the most disgraceful intrigues and treachery. 

A new division of his realm was several times attempted, 
either in the interest of his favorite, Charles, or in the hope 
that all the sons might be satisfied. It was all in vain, 
however, for when Ludwig died (840) the three sons who 
survived him continued their fratricidal wars for three 
years before they could agree upon any division of the 
territory. Finally, the brothers came together and settled 
their long quarrel by the treaty of Verdun (843). 

According to the terms of this treaty, Lothar retained 
the imperial crown. As emperor he must have the two 



64 



TJic Mediceval Period 



The treaty 
of Verdun, 

843- 



The begin- 
ning of 
France and 
Germany. 



capitals, Rome and Aachen. He therefore received Italy 
and a strip of land extending from Italy to the North Sea. 
This strip was bounded on the east by the Rhine, but at 
lionn the line left the river and ran north to the mouth of 
the Weser. The western boundary line began some miles 
west of the mouth of the Rhone, but joined that river near 
Lyon ; it then followed the Rhone and the Saone to the 
source of the latter ; thence to the source of the Meuse, 
which seems to have formed the boundary as far as the 
Ardennes. The line then ran to the Scheldt, which it 
followed to its mouth. Charles, surnamed the Bald, re- 
ceived all the territory west of this strip. Ludwig, called 
the German, obtained all the land to the east, with the 
dioceses of Mainz, Worms, and Speier, which lay west of 
the Rhine. 

Charles and Ludwig had the best of it in this division, 
because their territory was compact and each was ruler 
of a single nationality. The subjects of Ludwig were 
all German, while those of Charles were mi.xed, indeed, 
but becoming homogeneous. The German element was 
being assimilated by the Keltic. The history of Germany 
and of France as separate nations begins with 843. But 
Lothar's subjects were of many nationalities. Besides, his 
territory lay in such a way that it could not easily be de- 
fended. It is significant that his kingdom could be named 
only after himself and not after any people. It was known 
as the kingdom of Lothar, while Charles was called king 
of the Franks, and Ludwig king of the Germans. Geo- 
graphically and racially it was impossible that the kingdom 
of Lothar should hold together. The Alps broke it into 
two parts; Italy might perhaps be made into a nation, but 
the narrow strip along the Rhine, from the Alps to the 
North Sea, was fated to be broken into many fragments and 
fought over for centuries by the French and the Germans. 



The Dismemberment of the Empire 65 

Lothar was powerless against the violence that prevailed 
during the ninth century., and, worn out, divided his terri- 
tory among his three sons and withdrew into a monastery, 
where he soon afterward 'died (855). His eldest son, The family 
known as Ludwig II., received Italy and the imperial title; becomes ex- 
Charles's portion was Provence and Burgundy ; while Lo- tinct ; his 
thar II. obtained Frisia, Austrasia, and all the remaining divided'" 
lands north of the Alps. From him this territory took the 
name of Lotharingia (Lorraine). The three brothers could 
not, however, live together in peace. They were in con- 
stant feud with each other till 863, when Charles died, 
and the other two divided his territory between them. In 
869 Lothar II. died, and his uncles, Charles the Bald, king 
of the West Franks, and Ludwig the German, after some 
struggle, divided his land. In 875 the emperor, Ludwig 
II., died, and with his death this branch of the family Charles the 

became extinct. The rivalry between Charles the Bald A^^i'c^ 

•' comes fc,m- 

and Ludwig the German culminated in a war for the pos- peror 875. 
session of the imperial crown. Charles was the first to 
reach Italy, and was crowned at Pavia king of the Lom- 
bards, and a short time afterward emperor, by the pope at 
Rome. 

Ludwig the German was unable to take the field in per- 
son against his brother. He was old and feeble, and death 
overtook him the next year (876). His long reign, al- The Reign 
though greatly disturbed by the revolts of his sons and the °ije Gennan- 
invasions of the Northmen and Slavs was, on the whole, 
fairly successful. It was of the highest importance that 
the various German tribes should be brought to feel their 
unity and that a national feeling should be produced 
among them. It was during his reign that the East Franks 
(Franconians), Saxons, Suabians, and Bavarians came to 
feel that they were much alike, and that they differed from 
the Franks of the west. He extended his boundaries by 



66 The Mediccval Period 

chastising and reducing the rebellious Slavic peoples to the 
northeast, and a great many of the Bohemian and Mora- 
vian tribes. He was successful in punishing the Northmen 
and resisted their invasions, although he could not prevent 
the destruction of Hamburg, which Ludwig the Pious had 
made the seat of an archbishop. Regarding the kingship 
as his private property, Ludwig the German divided his 
kingdom among his three sons ; but Karlman died in 880, 
and Ludwig, known as the Saxon, in 884, leaving as sole 
ruler their brother, Karl the Fat, who had been crowned 
emperor by the pope in 882. 
Charles the At the death of Ludwig the German (876), Charles the 
Bald, 840- Bald, true to his character, tried to seize his territory, but 
was unable to do so. At the same time the Northmen in- 
vaded his kingdom. Without trying to meet them in the 
field, he bribed them to attack his nephews, and set off for 
Italy because he thought his imperial crown endangered by 
a revolt there. He died, however, on the journey, at the 
foot of the Mont Cenis pass. The favorite son of his 
father, he had been the cause of the wars that filled the 
last years of Ludwig the Pious. Ambitious and grasping, 
he had begun several wars during his reign for the purpose 
of unjustly depriving some of his relatives of their posses- 
sions. In striving to extend his territory, he neglected 
what he already possessed. His officials ruled as they 
pleased, and the Northmen and Saracens ravished his ter- 
ritory almost unhindered. He did little more than squan- 
der the resources of his kingdom. His son, Louis II. the 
Stammerer, succeeded him ; but after a short, though 
promising, reign died (879), leaving two sons, Louis III. 
and Karlman, and a posthumous son, afterward known as 
Charles the Simple. The death of Louis HI. (882) and 
of Karlman (884) practically left the throne vacant, since 
Charles the Simj)le was only five years old. Rather than 



The Dismemberment of the Empire 6y 

trust to a mere child, the nobles offered the crown to Karl The whole 
the Fat, who, by accepting it, united under himself all united under 
the territory which had once been ruled over by Karl the Karl the 
Great. He was, however, not equal to the task. Besides ^j.^ 884^^^'^" 
being very corpulent he was afflicted with chronic headache, 
which incapacitated him for both thought and action. His 
inefficiency led to his deposition (887), and the empire 
rapidly broke up into small kingdoms. His nephew, Ar- The seven 
nulf, who deposed him, received as his reward the kingdom ^g^jg ' ^' 
of the East Franks ; the nobles of the West Franks elected Germany. 
Odo, count of Paris, king, while the duke of Aquitaine ^^^ \^ 
took Charles the Simple to his court and remained inde- France, 
pendent of Odo. Burgundy was divided into two king- 
doms. In 879 count Boso, of Vienne, had usurped the 
royal title and made himself master of lower Burgundy. The two 
Count Rudolf now seized upper Burgundy and succeeded """&"" ^^^• 
in getting himself crowned king. His territory was bound- 
ed approximately by the Saone and by the Aar, and ex- 
tended from Basel to Lyon. These two little kingdoms 
remained separate till 934, when they united to form the 
kingdom of Burgundy or Aries. In Lombardy there were 
also two kingdoms formed. Berengar, margrave of Friuli, Two king- 
was elected king of the Lombards and crowned by the Lombardy 
archbishop of Milan ; but Guido of Spoleto made war on 
him, got possession of the western part of Lombardy, and 
assumed the title of king. 

The breaking up of the empire into these little kingdoms Disintegra- 
shows how thoroughly power and authority had been dissi- o\enc^" ^*' 
pated and decentralized during the ninth century. Feu- 
dalism had got a strong hold on Europe. Offices and 
lands which had once been held at the will of the king had 
been usurped, and had become hereditary possessions of 
their holders. Violence was everywhere ; the more power- 
ful nobles oppressed the weaker, and all united to enslave 



68 The Mediccval Period 

the freemen. The chaos of the times was due to the weak- 
ness and inefficiency of the rulers, who, for the most part, 
neglected their first and most important duties to chase 
after the shadows of empty titles. 

SPECIAL TOPIC 

LuDwiG THE Pious. Oman, Chap. XXIII. Milman, Bk. V., Chap. II. 
Henderson, Chap. VI. 



CHAPTER V 

ENGLAND AND THE NORSEMEN (802-1070) 

LITERATURE.— As in Chap. I. Also 

Freeman, Short History of the Norman Conquest. $0.60. Clarendon. 

Green, Conquest 0/ England. $2.50. Harper. 

Saxon Chronicles, edited by Plummer and Earle. $0.75. Clarendon. 

The Struggle for supremacy, which lasted for three hun- 
dred years, among the small ki-ngdoms of England, was 
practically ended during the reign of Ecgberht, who as- Ecgberht, 
cended the throne of Wessex in 802. Northumbria and °^~39- 
Mercia, the two great rivals of Wessex, were worn out with 
the long wars, so that Ecgberht found it comparatively easy 
to make himself the over-lord of all the country. He had 
spent thirteen years in exile at the court of Karl the Great, 
and had no doubt learned much and had his ambitions 
quickened by what he saw of the successes of the great 
Frankish king. In his government Ecgberht showed wise 
consideration, and while recognizing to a certain extent the 
various political divisions of the country, he drew the bonds 
closer which connected them with Wessex. 

The supremacy which Wessex now enjoyed might have 
been as ephemeral as that of the other kingdoms but for 
the fact that for nearly one hundred and fifty years after 
Ecgberht its throne was occupied by able kings who wisely 
secured the assistance of the clergy in all that they did. 
The fusion of the kingdoms into one people was also hast- 
ened by the great common danger which threatened 
them from the Northmen. As early as 787 the eastern 
coast of England had been attacked by pirates from the 

6g 



70 



The Mediccval Period 



Invasions of 
the North- 
men. 



Aelfred the 

Great, 

871-901. 



continent. Their ravages became more and more frequent, 
and the king found it difficult to defeat them or to derive 
any sohd advantage from a victory over them. During 
the reign of Ecgberht they harried all the country inces- 
santly. His son and successor, Aethelwulf (839-58), was 
unable to stem the tide of invasion. In 85 1 they were bold 
enough to spend the winter on the island of Thanet. 

Aethelwulf was succeeded by his four sons in the or- 
der of their age : Aethelbald (858-60), Aethelberht (860- 
66), Aethelred (866-71), and Aelfred the Great (871- 
901). The task of defending the country against these bar- 
barian invaders became more difficult as greater numbers 
of them began to settle on the east coast. In 866 the 
Danes began the work of conquest and settlement in ear- 
nest. Northumbria was quickly overrun and subdued by 
them. East Anglia and the Fen were next attacked and 
conquered, their famous monasteries were burned, and the 
king of East Anglia, Eadmund, was slain. This king was 
later canonized, and over his remains was built the great 
abbey of St. Edmundsbury. Mercia was not yet attacked, 
but in 870 its king paid the Danes tribute and acknowl- 
edged their leader as over-lord. Back of this submission 
was not only fear of the Danes, but also dislike of the West 
Saxon supremacy. 

King Aethelred was left with only the territory south of 
the Thames, all north of that river being in the hands of 
the Danes. For some time it seemed that all England 
was to be conquered. The Danes pushed up the Thames 
and out into Wessex, and Aethelred was unable to drive 
them back. In the midst of the war he died, leaving his 
crown to his brother Aelfred, who tried in vain to repel 
the invaders. After several defeats, in which his army 
was destroyed, he was compelled to buy the withdrawal of 
the Danes, hoping that in the meantime he might be able 



England and the Norsemen 71 

to put the country into a proper state of defence. Reen- 
forcements continued to come from Denmark and Scandi- 
navia, and, in 876, Guthrum, the Danish king of East 
Angha, attacked Wessex. For two years the struggle was 
severe, but it ended in favor of Aelfred by the treaty of 
Wedmore (Chippenham) in 878 ; Guthrum accepted Chris- Wedmore, 
tianity and was ceded the eastern half of England north ' 
of the Thames. This territory was called the Danelaw. 
The conquerors settled as lords of the soil, and for a long 
time kept themselves separate from the conquered English. 
The fusion of the two peoples, however, came eventually. 

During the remaining years of Aelfred's rule he had peace 
with the Danes, except in 2)^6, when he was successful in 
wresting from them London and the surrounding districts, 
and again in 893, when he also successfully resisted their 
attacks. The condition of his territory at the peace of 
Wedmore was wretched in the extreme. Churches and 
monasteries had been burned, the clergy slain or driven out, 
and law and order destroyed ; everywhere there was great 
want and desolation. His first care was to train up an Aelfred's 
army to have it ready at his call. The country was di- ^glf '^"" 
vided into five districts, each of which was bound to furnish 
a certain number of men with provisions and equipment. 
Every town also was required to do the same. A part of 
the troops raised in this way were required to be ready to 
go whenever called, while the others were to remain at 
home as a guard. A threefold duty jjv^as laid on every 
landed proprietor ; he must serve in the army, and con- 
tribute to the support of bridges and fortifications. Ael- 
fred created a fleet which patrolled the coast and kept off 
the invaders. He restored order, punishing severely and 
impartially all offenders. As on the continent, so in Eng- 
land, everyone had the right of private war, but Aelfred 
enforced peace. The king's justice also began to take the 



72 The Mcdicrral Period 

place of the local justice. The king carefully controlled 
the decisions of the lower courts, and changed them if 
they were not according to his ideas. The independent 
legislation of Aelfred was probably not very great, but 
he had the laws of the Anglo-Saxon kings and peoples 
collected and reduced to writing in the Anglo-Saxon lan- 
guage. 
Learning. Aelfred labored to restore learning in his kingdom. 

Late in life he began the study of Latin, and mastered it so 
well that he was able to translate from it into his mother 
tongue. He surrounded himself with scholars, most of 
whom he brought from the continent, and established a 
court school very much like that of Karl the Great. His 
own translations, however, were of most value to his peo- 
ple. From the Latin he translated the " Consolations of 
Philosophy," by Boethius ; the " History of the World," 
by Orosius ; the " Ecclesiastical History of the English," 
by the Venerable Bede ; and the "Pastoral Rule," by 
Gregory the Great. It was under his direction, also, tliat 
the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" was compiled and contin- 
ued. While all these works, except the latter, are trans- 
lations, they contain also many additions from the pen of 
the king himself. Because of his moral greatness, and 
because of the fact that he regarded himself as the servant 
of his people, he has been given the well-earned title 
"Great." 

The task that devobed on the successors of Aelfred was 
to prevent, if possible, any further migration from the con- 
tinent, to reconquer the Danelaw, to hasten the fusion of 
the Danes with the English, and to keep down the tribal 
revolts and make England really one. Fortunately his suc- 
cessors were able men (Eadward the Elder, 901-24 ; Aeth- 
elstan, 924-40; Eadmund, 940-46; Eadred, 946-55), 
who carried on the work well. Eadwig, however (955- 



England and the Norsemen 73 

59), was a mere boy, and his reign was troubled by quarrels 
among the nobles. But with the accession of Eadred (946) 
had come in a new power in the person of Dunstan, who Dunstan. 
was the first of that line of remarkable ecclesiastical states- 
men which England has produced. Under Eadred, Ead- 
wig, Eadgar (959-75), Eadward the Martyr (975-79), 
and Aethelred the Redeless (979-1016), until his death in 
988, Dunstan was much of the time the power behind the 
throne. Commerce with the continent was fostered, order 
was preserved, and the Church and monasteries thoroughly 
reformed. The old slavery was disappearing, but in its 
stead the feudal rule was becoming established. The 
power of the king greatly increased and he was looked 
upon as king of all England and not simply of the West 
Saxons. The king now developed a court composed of his 
friends and officials, who formed a new nobility over 
against the old nobility of blood. The king took posses- 
sion of the folk land, that is, the land which had been left 
for the common use, and enriched his servants by dividing 
up much of it among them. At the same time the jFo/k- 
moot, the meeting of all the freemen, ceased, being re- 
j)laced by the Witenagemot, the meeting of the wise men 
{i.e., the officials, with the highest clergy). 

The reign of Aethelred the Redeless {i.e., without coun- 
sel) was very disastrous. Utterly incapable of ruling, he 
involved England more and more deeply in ruin and misery. 
In 991 when the Danes began to invade England again, he Renewed 

bought a truce of them and allowed them to settle in East ^"^^fio^s of 

® the Danes. 

Anglia. Other invasions followed, led by Olaf of Norway 

and Swein of Denmark. Frightened at the danger which 

now threatened him, Aethelred tried to secure the assistance 

of Normandy by allying himself to its duke, whose sister, 

Emma, he married. Goaded to frenzy by the presence of 

the Danes who had recently come, the English planned to 



74 The Mcdi(cval Period 

massacre them, and in 1002 they rose and put all the 
Danes among them to death. Among the slain was Gun- 
hild, the sister of king Swein, who now swore to avenge 
her death by taking England from her king. From 1003 
to 1007 his army overran England, plundering and burn- 
Swein, the ing. Aethelred bought a truce of him. Swein, however, 
Dane, ^'"S went on preparing for a larger invasion, and in 1013 came 
back, and soon had all England in his power, while Aethel- 
red was compelled to flee to Normandy. But Swein 'c rule 
was of short duration. He died the next year, and the 
Knut, 1016- Danish warriors chose his son Knut as his successor. The 
35- death of Aethelred and his son Eadmund Ironside left Knut 

master of all England. He reigned from 1016 to 1035 
wisely and with a strong hand over his newly acquired 
realm. Under him the old kingdoms lost more and more 
of their character as kingdoms and became known as earl- 
doms. He became a Christian in character as well as in 
name, and allied himself with the clergy. By renewing 
the laws of his predecessors and preserving English cus- 
toms, he tried to make the people forget that he was a for- 
eigner. He further strengthened his position by marrying 
Emma, the widow of Aethelred. He brought England 
peace, for, during his reign, the land was free from disturb- 
ances. Denmark, however, profited most by this con- 
quest of England, for she was thereby brought into close 
contact with a nation far more civilized than herself, and 
her union with England greatly forwarded Christianity in 
all the countries of the north. The Danes differed from 
the people in England very little in blood, language, cus- 
toms, and laws, and their settlement in England may be 
regarded as a reenforcement of German blood and a 
strengthening of the English character. 

At the death of Knut (1035) he was succeeded by his 
two sons in turn, Harold (1035-40) and Harthaknut 



England and the Norsemen 75 

(1040-42). They were, however, thoroughly barbarous 
and unfitted in every way to rule. England was again 
given up to violence, and as the people disliked them there 
was general joy when Harthaknut died and Eadward the 
Confessor (1042-66), son of Aethelred and Emma, came 
back from Normandy and was acknowledged as king. 
Tired of foreign rulers the people expected great things of The Eng- 
Eadward, who was in blood an Englishman. But most of g^-Qj-g^j 
his life having been spent in Normandy he was far more 1042. 
Norman than English. He returned with a large follow- 
ing of Normans, whom he placed in high offices, both secu- 
lar and ecclesiastical, greatly to the disgust and anger of 
the people. 

The real power in England, however, was in the hands 
of the great earl, Godwine of Wessex, whose earldom con- Earl God- 
sisted of all the land south of the Thames. Eadward him- "^*"^- 
self had little ability and less energy, and was content to 
pass his time in quiet. The two great earls of the north, 
Siward of Northumbria, and Leofric of Mercia, were kept 
so busy with the affairs of their earldoms, that Godwine 
had ample opportunity to carry out his plans. These were 
concerned with increasing the power of his own family. 
For his sons and other relatives he obtained small earl- 
doms ; and in 1045 he strengthened himself by giving his 
daughter Eadgyth to the king in marriage. 

Owing to the jealousy of the other great earls and to a 
quarrel with the king Godwine withdrew to Flanders 
(105 1). The next year, however, the English were glad 
to see him return, because the king had, in the meanwhile, 
shown even greater favor to the Normans. In 105 1 Will- William 
iam the Bastard, duke of Normandy, visited the childless J^^ndf "^' 
Eadward and is said to have received from him the prom- 
ise of the crown of England. The court was filled with 
Normans, but on the reappearance of Godwine they hastily 



76 



The Medicrval Period 



Harold 
promised 
the crown. 



The 
Northmen. 



fled to the continent. Among them was Robert of Jumi- 
eges, who had been made archbishop of Canterbury. At 
his flight the high office was given to an EngHshman. 
This action offended the pope, for, according to the papal 
claims, no church official could be deposed except by ec- 
clesiastical authority. Godwine died soon after, and was 
succeeded in the leadership by his son Harold. 

Since Eadward was childless, it was necessary to deter- 
mine who should succeed him. Although not of the royal 
line, Harold was the only possible candidate. His earl- 
dom was the largest in England. He was the right-hand 
man of the king, and he had shown the greatest ability 
both as a ruler and warrior. There was nothing to do but 
to revive the old German custom of electing the ablest man 
king, and it was accordingly agreed that Harold should 
succeed his royal master. 

During his last years Eadward became even more inac- 
tive than before. The management of affairs was wholly 
in the hands of Harold, who put down a dangerous revolt 
in Wales, maintained peace and order throughout the king- 
dom, and administered the laws equitably. In England 
there was but one family which could contest the crown 
with him, that of Leofric of Mercia, and this he concili- 
ated by making Morkere, the brother of Leofric, earl of 
Northumbria, in the place of his own brother Tostig, 
against whom the Northumbrians had rebelled. On the 
death of Eadward, January 5, 1066, Harold was elected 
and crowned without opposition. 

The German tribes of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 
were almost entirely free from Roman influence till the 
ninth century. Christianity had certainly gained no hold 
upon them. They lived in independent groups, without 
any central government. But during the ninth century 
several leaders arose in various parts, who united many of 



England and the Norsemen yy 

the tribes, much as Chlodwig had united the Franks in the 
fifth century. Three kingdoms were estabhshed, known 
respectively as the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and 
Denmark. Since the leaders and nobles of the conquered 
tribes were too proud to submit to a conqueror they turned 
to the sea, hoping to preserve their independence. At 
first they played the part of pirates, attacking the coasts of 
Gaul, Germany, northern Spain, and even Italy. Ascend- 
ing the rivers for many miles they robbed, plundered, and 
burned all the towns they could. They attacked monas- 
teries and churches because of the treasures which they 
were known to contain. At first these raids were made in 
the summer, and the pirates returned to their homes for the 
winter. Gradually, however, they began to spend the win- 
ter also in the countries which they were plundering. They 
seized the land and settled upon it, and these winter settle- 
ments became permanent. As their success became known 
at home they were joined by large numbers of their fellow- 
countrymen who were eager to have a share in their pros- 
perity. Terms were made with the lord of the land, and 
these unwelcome guests made themselves at home and iden- 
tified themselves with the country in which they settled. 
It was plainly to their interest that not too many Norse- 
men should join them, since their own portions would be 
thereby diminished ; they therefore resisted all further im- 
migration as well as piratical invasions by their country- 
men. 

These Norsemen possessed to a marked degree the Ger- Their 
man characteristic, adaptability. In France they became character. 
Frenchmen, in England, Englishmen, in Russia, Russians. 
They did not, however, lose their individuality. They 
preserved their courage, their genius for governing and 
their bodily vigor, their love of war and their thirst for 
fame. Like the Goths, when they migrated they left their 



men in the 
east. 



78 The Mcdiccval Period 

religion at home, but not their rehgiousness. They ac- 
cepted Roman Christianity with a heartiness which soon 
made them the champions of the papacy. They rebuilt the 
burned monasteries and churches and became the most 
zealous pilgrims of all Europe. They had the greatest 
regard for holy places and persons, and from pirates be- 
came Christian knights. 
The Norse- The lands to the east of the Baltic were attacked by the 
Norsemen also. About the middle of the ninth century 
they began to make settlements on the coast, and their 
leader, Rurik, succeeded in uniting the tribes of Finns, 
Lapps, Letts, and others who were scattered over what is 
now western Russia. He and his successors extended their 
power into the interior. Novgorod, on Lake Illman, and 
Kiev, on the Dnieper, became their most important cen- 
tres. For more than seven hundred years the family of 
Rurik held the kingship and ruled over much of what is 
now Russia. In their raids to the east and south they 
came into contact with Constantinople, from which they 
received Christianity and the rudiments of civilization. In 
the tenth century a large body of Norsemen sailed down 
the Volga and raided a part of Persia. All the way from 
the Baltic to the Black Sea the Norsemen made settlements 
along the rivers, and thus M-as opened up a route of travel 
and commerce between the Scandinavian countries and 
Constantinople and the east. From the many coins of 
Bohemia, Hungary, and Constantinople, and even of the 
khalifs of Bagdad, which have been found in Sweden, we 
must infer that this commerce was very considerable. 
Christian pilgrims from the north regarded this as the most 
convenient way of reaching Palestine, because they found 
some of their countrymen all along the route. In the 
eleventh century many Norsemen went to Constantinople 
to seek their fortunes and offer their services to the em- 



England and the Norsemen 79 

peror, who enrolled large numbers of them in his body- 
guard. 

About 800 the Norsemen began to settle in the Hebrides, In the west. 
Orkneys, and Shetland Islands, which up to this time were 
occupied only by Irish monks and hermits. From these 
islands they spread to the main-land of Scotland, and in 
the course of about a hundred years all these settlements 
were united into one kingdom. In the ninth century they 
took possession of Iceland, which became thoroughly 
Norse. There the Norse customs and traditions were pre- 
served in greater purity and for a longer time than in their 
original home.^ In the tenth century the Norsemen settled 
in Greenland, and kept in constant intercourse with their 
mother-country till the fourteenth century, when they dis- 
appeared ; from what cause is unknown. 

About the year 1000, Norse sailors discovered the coast 
of America, and endeavored to plant colonies there, but 
without success. On the east and south coast of Ireland 
they also made settlements, some of which continued to 
exist till far into the twelfth century. Their invasions 
of England have already been recounted, as well as those 
of France. The settlement of Rolf, in the valley of the Normandy, 
lower Seine (Normandy), resulted in the establishment of 
a powerful duchy, which soon put an end to the invasions 
from the north. Duke Rolf (911-27) and his successors 
(William Longsword, 927-43 ; Richard the Fearless, 
943-96 ; Richard the Good, 996-1027 ; and Robert the 
Magnificent, 1027-35) ruled with a strong hand, and 
Normandy was soon one of the strongest as well as best- 
governed duchies of France. The laws were enforced, 
order preserved, and the vassals kept in subjection. In 
911 Rolf had agreed to accept Christianity, and in spite 



' Cf. the Eddas and Sagas of the Norsemen, which were written in 
Iceland. 



8o 



TJic Med'KTval Period 



William the 
Bastard, 
Duke of 
Normandy, 
1035-87- 



William 
claims the 
English 
crown, 1066. 



of occasional back-slidings he and his pirates became de- 
voted adherents of tlie Church. Normandy was noted for 
its churches, monasteries, and schools. The abbey of Bee 
was known throughout Europe because of its founder, Lan- 
franc, and its great prior, Anselm. Robert the Magnifi- 
cent, at his death, in 1035, left only a bastard son, Will- 
iam, seven years old, to succeed him. When William 
attained his majority and attempted to rule independently, 
many of his subjects revolted. There was a bitter struggle, 
but William proved himself master of all his enemies and 
administered the affairs of his duchy with as much ability 
and firmness as any of his predecessors. 

Eadward the Confessor is said to have promised his 
crown to William, who was his cousin. Another story of 
still more doubtful authenticity relates how Harold, ship- 
wrecked on the coast of France, fell into the hands of 
William, who compelled him to take an oath that he would 
support William's claim to the throne. When the news of 
the accession of Harold reached William he fell into a 
great rage and began to prepare to invade England and 
make good his pretensions to the crown. He is said to 
have called on Harold to keep his promise, but Harold 
paid no attention to his summons. He sent to the pope 
certain charges against Harold, and promised, in return for 
the papal support and sanction, to ])ut the Church of Eng- 
land under tlie control of Rome. Alexander II. gave 
William his blessing on these terms and sent him a conse- 
crated banner. William, in tlie meantime, built a fleet 
and collected his troops from every possible source. 

King Harold was threatened with a double danger on his 
accession to the throne. His brother Tostig had revolted 
and fled to Harold Hardrada, king of Denmark, whom he 
urged to invade England. Harold also learned of the 
preparations of William, but was uncertain when these at- 



England and the Norsemen 8i 

tacks would be made. He collected an army and patrolled 
the coast, but since no enemy appeared his men gradually 
left and went to their homes. Suddenly Harold Hardrada ' 

and Tostig landed on the coast of Yorkshire, defeated the 
troops of the earls Edwin and Morkere, and took the city 
of York. King Harold hastened to the north, met the 
invaders near Stamford Bridge and utterly defeated them. KingHar- 
On the same day William landed, unhindered, near Peven- ^^^^ Bddg-e 
sey, with an army of about fifty thousand men, and began Sept. 25, 
to ravage the country. By forced marches Harold has- 
tened to the south to meet this new foe. Although de- 
serted by the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, Edwin, 
and Morkere, he nevertheless determined to risk a battle 
without first collecting new troops and allowing his army to 
recuperate. Near Hastings, on a hill, known later as Sen- The battle 
lac, Harold took a strong position, and was able for some ° ^^ i"gs. 
hours to resist the onslaught of the Normans. In the end, 
however, he was slain, his guard cut down, and the rest of 
his troops put to flight. William had won the day and 
with it the crown of England. 

William's first care was to get possession of Kent and 
Sussex, the inhabitants of which were frightened into sub- 
mission by his violence toward those who resisted him. 
He marched toward London and, hoping to overawe the London. 
city, burned Southwark. The inhabitants of London, how- 
ever, closed the gates against him, elected as their king Ead- 
gar the Aetheling, a grandson of Eadmund Ironside. The 
earls of Mercia and Northumbria, Edwin and Morkere, 
were present at the election, but when William crossed the 
Thames and threatened their territories they withdrew from 
the city to look after their own interests. Seeing that re- 
sistance was hopeless the people offered the crown to Will- 
iam. He entered the city, and on Christmas-day, 1066, 
was crowned in Westminster by the archbishop Ealdred. 



2,2 



The Mcdiceval Period 



William 

crowned. 

1066. 



The land 
forfeit to 
William. 



The crown was his by right of conquest, but he was also for- 
mally elected by the people of London, and in his coronation 
by the archbishop the Church set its seal upon his title and 
supplied what was lacking in the legitimacy of his claims. 

Thus far only the southeastern part of England (bound- 
ed by a line from the Wash to Dorsethead) was actually in 
William's hands. To secure London he built a strong fort- 
ress, which afterward became the famous tower. The earls 
of Mercia and Northumbria submitted to him only nom- 
inally. In order to justify the seizure of whatever lands 
he might desire, William declared that the election and 
acknowledgment of Harold as king was an act of treason, 
punishable with forfeiture and death. All England was, 
therefore, guilty, and all the land was forfeited to William. 
He .seized the possessions of all those who had borne arms 
against him, the rest being permitted to retain their lands 
on the payment of a fine. Otherwise there was for the 
present little change. 

Li 1067 England had become so quiet that William re- 
turned to Normandy, leaving the government in the hands 
of Odo, bishop of Bayeux, now earl of Kent, and William 
Fitz-Osbern, earl of Hereford. These, however, were un- 
true to their trusts and allowed the English to be oppressed 
by the Norman nobles. This led the English to revolt, but 
The English William returned in the same year and put down the re- 
bellion. In the year 1068, however, a real national upris- 
ing took place. King Swein of Denmark came with a fleet 
to contest the possession of England with William. On his 
arrival in the Humber all the northern, western, and south- 
western parts of England revolted, and the king of Scotland 
came to their aid. William hastened to the Humber and 
bought the withdrawal of the Danish fleet. He then turned 
to the revolted provinces and, since they were not united, 
easily overcame them. Yorkshire especially suffered from 



revolt. 



England and the Norsemen 83 

his anger. So thoroughly did he devastate it that a famine 
followed which is said to have carried off more than a 
hundred thousand people, and nearly a century passed be- 
fore the land was restored to its former state of cultivation. 
The most determined of the English fled to the Fens 
(the swampy district south of the Wash), and there offered 
brave resistance under the leadership of Hereward. Their 
destruction, however, ended all opposition, and England 
was thoroughly conquered. He next invaded Scotland and 
made its king his vassal. Being now in full possession, 
William set himself to keep in subjection and to govern his 
hardly acquired kingdom. 

This Norman conquest of England had great influence on Effect of the 
the history of England not simply because of the political <^°"^"6st. 
changes which William introduced. He was not only king 
of England, but duke of Normandy, and a subject of the 
king of France. He was, moreover, a devoted friend of the 
papacy. It was, therefore, inevitable that England should 
be closely associated with the continent ; the English kings, 
proud of their continental possessions, would be involved 
in territorial struggles with the French kings; and the 
claims of the popes for universal dominion would the more 
easily include England. The conquest brought England 
again into intimate relations with the rest of Europe and 
made of her a continental power. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Aelfredthe Great. V&wW, Life of Alfred the Great. $1.50. Macmillan. 

Vi.i^^'h^s, Alfred the Great. $i.cx). Macmillan. K^^e^r, Life of Alfred 
the Great. $1.50. Macmillan. 

2. St. Dunstan. Green, The Conquest of England, pp. 269-343, 416, and 446. 

$2.50. Harper. 

3. William THE Conqueror. Vreeman, IVilliam the Conqueror. $0.50. Mac- 

millan. Johnson, The Normans in Europe. Chaps. VIII., and X.- 
XIV. $1.00. Scribner. 

4. The Norsemen. Johnson, The Normans in Europe. 

5. St. Anselm. His Zj/J by Church. $1.50. Macmillan. There are also 

biographies of him by Rule, and Moehler. 



CHAPTER VI 
POLITICAL HISTORY OF FRANCE, 887-1108 

t.nE,RATURE.—Kitchia,I/isioryo/France,Wo\.l. 10s. 6d. Clarendon. 
]ervxs. History (i/'Fra7ice. $1.25. Harper. 

Odo, king Odo, the newly elected king of France, was the best 

888-98. choice that could have been made by the Frankish nobles. 

He surpassed them all in valor, was noted for his just and 
upright character, and, of all their number, had the largest 
landed possessions. His popularity was greatly increased 
by that of his father, Robert the Strong, who lost his life in 
resisting the invasion of the Northmen (866). But his 
position was not safe because he was only one of several 
great nobles, all of whom regarded themselves as practi- 
cally his equal and did not hesitate to oppose him and 
make war on him. For under the weak successors of Karl 
the Great the counts who had been the king's officers had 
increased their independence, and had made their office 
hereditary. In this way there arose the powerful counts of 
Flanders, Poitou, Anjou, Gascony, Paris, and others, whose 
The great lands came to be called the " great fiefs." The Northmen 
continued their invasions, but Odo was not always so suc- 
cessful in repelling them as he had been. After 893 he had 
also to contend against the oft-renewed conspiracy of some 
of the strongest nobles to restore Charles the Simple to the 
throne. So long as he lived he successfully defended his 
title, but at last, worn out with the struggle, he died (898) 
after having named as his successor, not his brother Rob- 
ert, who was his heir, but Charles the Simple (898-929). 

84 



fiefs. 



Political History of France 85 

Robert did homage to Charles, and received the duchy of 
France (a strip of territory which included, among other 
cities, Paris, Tours, and Orleans). 

Charles the Simple was in many respects an able man, Charles the 
but his too ready confidence in the promises and loyalty of 8q8!.Q2o 
his subjects often brought him great trouble and loss, and 
won for him the title of Simple. The invasions of the 
Northmen continued without abatement, and many of their 
bands now spent the winter in France, having taken posses- 
sion of some of the districts about the mouth of the Seine 
and elsewhere. In 911 Charles offered their principal 
leader, Rolf (Rollo), the valley of the lower Seine and his 
daughter in marriage if he would settle there and become a Settlement 
Christian. It proved to be a wise measure, for it was to ^orth 
the interest of Rolf and his people that the invasions should on the Low- 
cease. The various bands of Northmen were soon gathered ^^ ^*"^' 
together under Rolf, and fresh invaders were repulsed. The 
district thus assigned to them received from them the name 
of Normandy. 

Robert of France, repenting that he had refused the crown 
in 899, with two other great nobles conspired to overthrow 
Charles and make himself king. In 923 the conspirators 
met the king's forces near Soissons and defeated them, but 
Robert himself was slain. His son Hugo was unwilling to 
claim the crown, and the nobles, therefore, elected the 
son-in-law of Robert, Rudolf of Burgundy, king. By Rudolf of 
treachery they got possession of the person of Charles and ^"'"S"" y- 
imprisoned him. His wife, however, escaped with her son 
to England, where she was received by her father, king 
Eadward the Elder. For twelve years Rudolf held the title 
of king, although during the first years of his reign his 
authority was very limited, and many of the great nobles 
refused to obey him. A quarrel with some of his nobles 
finally led to a brief restoration of Charles, but he was 



86 



The Mediccval Period 



Louis 
d'Outremer, 

936-54- 

Lothaire, 
954-86. 



again imimsoned, and died soon afterward of starva- 
tion (929). 

Rudolf died (936) without children, and Louis IV. 
(d'Outremer, Transmarinus) was recalled from England 
and made king. Duke Hugo of Paris, still unwilling to 
risk all for the sake of a title which brought with it great 
difficulties and but little authority, preferred rather to be 
the favorite adviser of the king, for he could thereby easily 
increase his possessions. He was lord of Neustria, duke of 
Francia, and suzerain of Blois, Champagne, Chartres, An- 
jou, and other counties. More than once Louis IV. was 
compelled to wage war with his great vassal Hugo. His 
sudden death in 954 placed the crown on the head of his 
eldest son, Lothaire (954-86), a boy eight years old. The 
support of Hugo was bought with the duchies of Aquitaine 
and Burgundy, but he died before he had made himself 
master of Aquitaine. His two sons, Hugo Capet and Otto, 
inherited his vast possessions, and also followed the policy 
of their great father and tried to gain possessions in the 
south of Gaul. Lothaire was a man of ability, but he 
made two fatal mistakes : he quarrelled with the clergy, 
and he set his heart on gaining Lotharingia, which was 
now a part of Germany. Consequently the clergy were 
constantly causing him trouble and he was continually at 
war with the kings of Germany. Taking advantage of 
these hostile relations, Hugo Capet obtained the friend.ship 
of Otto III., and when Lothaire turned to Germany for 
help he found an alliance existing between his great vassal 
and the German king. Lothaire died before the revolu- 
tion came, and his son, Louis V., succeeded him in 986. 
His death, however, took place the next year, and there 
was but one Karling left, Charles, duke of Lower Lotha- 
ringia, who, being without power, could not hope to obtain 
the votes of the great nobles. On the other hand, Hugo 



Political History of France 87 

Capet had the support of Otto III. of Germany, of the 
nobihty, and of the Church. He was allied by marriage to 
some of the most powerful counts. The clergy and the mon- 
asteries were on his side, because he had taken special pains 
to win them by rich donations. The archbishop, Adalbe- 
ron, of Rheims and the bishops of the whole country called 
the nobles together for the purpose of electing a king, and 
after a clever address,, in which Adalberon proved that 
Charles was not the most suitable person for king, and 
that the crown was not hereditary but elective, he proposed 
the duke, Hugo Capet, and recounted his virtues and quali- Duke Hugo 

fications. The duke was unanimously elected and crowned ,^Pf *■ , 

■' elected 

as " King of the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Normans, Aquita- king. 
nians, Goths, Spaniards, and Gascons." 

In this way the crown came into the possession of the The 
Capetians, a dynasty which was to rule France in the direct r)^nas\^" 
line for more than three hundred years (987-1328); for 987-1328. 
though the crown was declared to be elective, it soon be- 
came hereditary in this family. It was of the greatest in- 
fluence on the history of the line that there was never lack- 
ing a male heir, generally of mature years, able to take up 
and carry out the policy of his predecessors. There were, 
therefore, no disputed successions, no disastrous regencies, 
no troubled elections. 

The position of the new line of the Capetians had its The posi- 
points of strength and weakness. Both the Merovingians ^.°" °j^ *^ 
and the Karlings had been consecrated by the Church and king, 
were therefore regarded as legitimate rulers. The Capets, 
upon being hailed by the Church, were accepted by a large 
part of the nation as the true successors to those great 
houses. The king thus became, for the majority of the peo- 
ple, an absolute sovereign, a power ordained of God to 
rule, to preserve order, and to administer justice. But 
there was another class, composed mostly of the nobility, 



88 



The Mcdiaval Period 



And as 
feudal lord. 



Hugo Capet, 
987-96. 



Robert II. 
996-1031. 



which at this time was living in accordance with feudal 
customs and ideas, and to them the king was by no means 
absolute. His authority over them and his demands on 
them were limited. They were themselves kings in their 
domains in all but the name, and exercised royal preroga- 
tives. These feudal ideas and customs the Capets were 
forced to recognize. The royal power was strictly limited, 
and it was only by following a consistent policy and by 
the greatest good fortune that the Capets were able in the 
end to triumph over feudalism and to establish a strong 
central government. But this was along and slow process. 
For more than a hundred years the disintegration of power 
and of territory went on. The Capets were not able to 
keep their officials from making their offices hereditary, 
and their family possessions, as well as the royal domain 
which they had inherited from the Karlings, were dimin- 
ished by constant usurpations. Their weakness was 
greatest in the eleventh century. The twelfth century, 



however, brought a 



change 



in their fortunes ; from that 



time their power steadily increased. 

The reign of Hugo Capet (987-96) was quite as success- 
ful as could be expected under the circumstances. He was 
generally recognized by the great vassals, and maintained 
an independent attitude toward the German emperors and 
toward the papacy. Under him there was a distinct 
growth in the feeling of nationality which helped increase 
the separation between France and her neighbors, already 
caused by the differences in language and customs. 

His son and successor, Robert II. (996-1031), surnamed 
the Pious, because of his humble and upright character and 
his regard for the truth, was none the less a warrior of 
ability, fighting vigorously for Lotharingia and adding by 
conquest several cities and districts to his estates. 

The reign of Henry I. (1031-60) was disastrous for the 



Political History of France 89 

royal power, although the king himself was both brave and Henry I., 
active. He was continually engaged in a struggle with the the ereat^" 
nobles whose territories surrounded his own, especially vassals, 
with the counts of Elois and the dukes of Normandy. 
The only outlet from his estates to the sea was the Seine, 
the lower part of which was in the possession of the Nor- 
mans, whose numbers and warlike qualities made their 
duke a dangerous neighbor of the king. Henry I. appre- 
ciated the situation and made every effort, though in vain, 
to make himself master of Normandy. Its duke, William, 
already known to us as the conqueror of England, was able 
to maintain his independent position. 

Philip I. (1060-1108) followed the pohcy of his father Philip I., 
in regard to Normandy and the other great fiefs. He was sumamed ' 
too young to prevent duke William from making his con- the Fat. 
quest of England, but he did all he could to weaken him 
by fomenting quarrels in the family of William and by en- 
deavoring to keep Normandy and England as independent 
of each other as possible. This policy he handed down to 
his successors. He carried on, in a creditable manner, 
several wars with other great vassals, and was successful in 
adding certain lands to his possessions. He refused to go 
on the first crusade, resisted the claims of Gregory VH., 
and treated that part of the clergy of France which sup- 
ported the pope with a good deal of severity. Such con- 
duct, now regarded as specially creditable to him, brought 
upon him the disfavor of the chroniclers who have gener- 
ally painted him in the darkest colors, charging him with 
gluttony, laziness, debauchery, highway robbery, and 
many other vices and crimes. In his later years his activ- 
ity was limited by his abnormal obesity, which amounted 
in his case to a disease. His reign, however, was not 
without its achievements, although the growing feudalism 
of the country daily diminished the actual power of the 



90 The Mcdiccval Period 

king. Feudal castles and strongholds were numerous, and 
the king met with resistance on all hands. The famous 
castle of Montlhery Avas at the very gates of Paris, and the 
king was actually in danger of being taken prisoner by his 
own brigand subjects and held for a ransom if he ventured 
outside of his city without a strong guard. The chaos and 
anarchy of feudalism were at their height ; but the reign 
Louis VI., of Louis VI. (1108-37) brought a change. Under him 
1100-37, ^j^g power of the king increased, the lawlessness of the 

times was checked, order was partly reestablished, and 
feudal customs became more fixed, thereby diminishing 
the violence that had been so prevalent and increasing the 
general security. The condition of the country was by no 
means perfect, but it was of the greatest importance that a 
large amount of stability was introduced into the customs 
and practices of the government and of society. The 
kings of France possessed a great advantage over the kings 
of Germany in that they were allowed to retain all fiefs 
which fell vacant, while in Germany the great dukes com- 
pelled the king to relet all fiefs within a year. The kings 
of France, therefore, had an excellent opportunity to in- 
crease their possessions, while the kings of Germany were 
cut off from that advantage. 

SPECIAL TOPIC 
Philip THE Fat. Jervis, pp. 113-123. Kitchin, Vol. I., pp. 254 ff. 



Chapter vii 

GERMANY AND ITS RELATION TO ITALY (887-1056) 
LITERATURE as in Chap. III. 

The deposition of Karl the Fat left Arnulf in the pos- Arnulf, 887- 
session of the German crown (887-99). -^^ successor of ^^" 
Karl the Great, he assumed that he was entitled to a cer- 
tain sovereignty over all the rulers of the west, and accord- 
ingly demanded and received the acknowledgment of his 
supremacy from the kings of Burgundy, Italy, and the 
West Franks. He defeated with great slaughter the North- 
men (891), but was unable to subdue the Slavic kingdom 
of Moravia, which included much of what is now Bo- 
hemia and Austria. At the invitation of the pope, Ar- 
nulf made two journeys into Italy for the purpose of re- 
storing order there and relieving the pope from the 
tyranny of his enemies, in return for which services the 
pope crowned him emperor (896). 

The reign of his son, known as Ludwig the Child (899- Ludwig, the 
911), was fatal to the unity of Germany. The local no- .^^ ' ^^ 
bility, filled with a desire for independent power, seized 
offices and lands and made them hereditary in their own 
families. As the empire of Karl the Great had broken up 
into many little states, so the kingdom of Arnulf fell apart 
into five great duchies, known as Franconia, Saxony, Ba- The great 
varia, Suabia, and Lotharingia. Owing to the weakness *" '^^' 
of the king, certain men in these duchies were able to 
usurp authority and assume the title of duke, and were, in 
their duchies, practically independent of the king. The 

, 91 



92 



The Mcdiccval Period 



Conrad I., 
of Franco- 
nia, king, 
911-18. 



The Saxon 
Line, 919- 
1002. Henry 
I., 919-36. 



Henry I. and 
the Church. 



boundaries of the duchies, following tribal lines, helped to 
preserve and perpetuate the dilTerences that already existed 
among these five great groups of Germans. The people of 
each duchy longed to be independent of all the others, and 
preferred their own narrow interests to those of the king- 
dom. 

With the death of Ludwig the Child the line of Karl the 
Great came to an end in Germany, and it was therefore 
necessary to elect a king. The honor fell to Conrad I. 
(91 i-iS), duke of Franconia. Although able, l)rave, active, 
and ambitious to rule well, his reign was spent in a vain en- 
deavor to make good the traditional authority of the king 
over the dukes. He allied himself closely with the clergy, 
and at a council at Altheim (916) they threatened with the 
ban all who should resist him. Political disaffection was to 
be regarded as heresy and punished in the same way. But 
even with the aid of the clergy Conrad could not reduce 
the dukes ; and at his death he designated as his successor 
his most powerful rival, Henry of Saxony. 

The nobles of Saxony and Franconia came together in 
Fritzlar and elected Henry king (called the Fowler, also the 
Builder of Cities, 919-36). He was a practical man, who 
saw all the difficulties of the position, and was i^ersuaded 
that a feudal kingship was the only kind now possible. The 
days of the Karlings were gone forever. The power of the 
dukes was not to be broken ; their independence in their 
own territory was not to be questioned ; and they were to 
be held responsible to the king only for the feudal duties 
which they recognized as due him. This feudal conception 
of the kingship was new, and radically changed the attitude 
of the king toward the clergy and the dukes, for as he meant 
to be friendly with the dukes, he did not need the special 
help of the clergy. After his election, the archbishop of 
Mainz, as primate of the kingdom, wished to anoint him, 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 93 

but Henry refused, saying that the election alone was suffi- 
cient. 

In 924 the Magyars, or Hungarians, invaded Saxony. 
Henry was unable to meet them in the field, and therefore 
made a nine years' treaty with them, paying them a heavy 
tribute. These years Henry used to put his country into a 
good state of defence and to improve his army. His prep- Progress in 
arations are described by Widukind (i., 35) as follows : Germany. 

" He first chose one out of every nine soldiers who were 
living in the country and compelled him to live in a city 
(urbs) in order that he might build dwellings for the other 
eight and lay by one-third of all the grain produced, while 
the other eight should sow and harvest for the ninth. In 
these cities, on the construction of which they labored day 
and night, the king ordered that all trials, meetings, and 
festivals of whatever sort, should be held, in order that the The found- 
peoi)le in times of peace might become accustomed to *"S of cities 
what would be necessary in time of war (i.e., to living 
together in close quarters)." Towns are mentioned which 
he fortified, such as Merseburg, Meissen, and Quedlinburg. 
There were walled towns before his time, but most of the 
Germans lived in open, straggling villages. Henry gave 
a great impulse to town life, and it was due to his activity 
that the German towns now became more numerous, and 
that in the next century there was a large and important 
citizen class. Commerce was also thereby greatly pro- 
moted. During these years of peace Henry developed a 
good army. All who did military service were trained in 
the use of arms by military sports, and a cavalry troop was 
formed. The Saxons, it would seem, up to this time, had 
fought only on foot. The new mode of fighting was soon 
to become common, since it was generally those who had 
some means who were called on to follow the king on his 
campaigns. The poorer people being unable to equip them- 



94 The Mediccval Period 

selves with horses and arms, now sank to the position of 
serfs or slaves, and so escaped military service. 
Henry ex- Henry was successful in wresting territory from both the 

many to the I^^^'^^s on the north and the Slavs on the east. In 933 he 
east. refused to pay the Magyars tribute, met them in the field, 

and defeated them with great loss in several battles. The 
superiority of the improved method of defence, the walled 
towns, the cavalry, and the trained army, was now appar- 
ent. Before his death (936) he had his son Otto recog- 
nized as his successor. 

Otto I. (936-73) came to the throne with a different 
character and with ideas about his office entirely differen 
from those of his father. Henry was noted for his mod- 
esty and humility : he was practical and never strove for 
the impossible. He clearly recognized that he could not 
destroy the power of the dukes, and was therefore willing 
to recognize their independence. Otto, on the contrary 
was proud and ambitious. He had high ideas about his 
royal rights and prerogatives. He was not content with 
the position of feudal king, but regarded himself as the 
successor of Karl the Great. The sacred character of the 
king, acquired by anointment and by the peculiar relations 
existing between himself and the clergy, had been neg- 
lected by Henry, but Otto revived it. The dukes had 
been his father's equals ; Otto determined to make them 
his officials. Henry had not relied on the clergy, because 
he was determined to be on friendly terms with the dukes ; 
Otto, on the other hand, needed the help of the clergy to strip 
the dukes of their power. The events connected Vi ith his 
election and coronation illustrate the difference between 
his ideals and those of his father. There had been some 
dissatisfaction Avith Henry because of his simplicity, and 
there was now a desire that the traditions of Karl the Great 
should be revived. In accordance with this wish, Aachen, 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 95 

the ancient capital, was appointed as the place for the for- 
mal election of Otto. All the dukes and the highest nobil- 
ity were present, and Otto was anointed and crowned with His corona- 
great pomp. Afterward he sat down to the coronation ban- '°"' 
quet, at which he was served by the dukes. Duke Gisel- 
bert of Lorraine was his chamberlain, i.e., he had charge 
of the palace, Eberhard of Franconia was his steward or 
dish-bearer, Hermann of Suabia his cup-bearer, and Arnulf 
of Bavaria his marshal. 

But Ofto's haughty manner angered the dukes, and they 
plotted with his ambitious brothers for his overthrow. A 
long struggle ensued, in which Otto was successful in dis- 
possessing all the dukes, and making their duchies depend- 
ent on himself by giving them to members of his own fam- 
ily. As a counterpoise to the power of the nobles. Otto 
followed the policy of strengthening the clergy by en- 
riching them and conferring authority upon them.^ The 
clergy thus became a large and powerful part of the nobil- 
ity. This policy proved to be disastrous, for in the strug- 
gle which came later between the empire and the papacy, 
the clergy of Germany turned against their benefactors and 
helped destroy them. 

Toward the barbarians east of Germany Otto had a well- Otto's pol- 
defined policy. In 955, on the Lech river, near Augsburg, ^^^ barba- 
he won a decisive victory over the Magyars, and put an rians. 
end to their invasions by compelling them, after accepting 
Christianity, to settle in the territory which they have ever 
since occupied (Hungary). The Slavs, too, were com- 
pelled to acknowledge Otto's over-lordship. As a de- 
fence against them several marches (marks) were established 
along the whole eastern frontier and put under able men. 

Magdeburg was made the religious capital of the Slavs 



' Bryce : The Holy Roman Empire, Chap. VIII., develops this thought 
at some lensth. 



96 



The Medicoz'al Period 



The Slavs 
Christian- 
ized and 
German- 
ized. 



The condi- 
tion of 
Italy. 



Parties. 



by establishing there an archbishop. Mission work was 
vigorously carried on among them, and for this jjurpose 
Otto established the bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg, 
Merseburg, Zeitz, Meissen, and Posen. Many monasteries 
arose, and the monks became not only the missionaries but 
also the teachers and civilizers of these barbarian peoples. 
German colonists went with the monks and clergy, and the 
process of Germanizing the Slavs was begun. To Otto 
the Great belongs the honor of having begun the policy 
toward these barbarians which was to result in making 
Germans of them, and in adding their territory to Ger- 
many. The east was the only direction in which Ger- 
many could expand. The way to the west was closed, 
but to the east there were extensive territories which could 
be conquered and Germanized. If these peoples could be 
kept dependent on Germany for their civilization and 
Christianity, it must inevitably follow that they would lose 
their nationality and become German. From this time on 
the expansion of Germany to the east among these peoples, 
her conquest and absorption of them, is one of the most 
important parts of her history. In this way all of Prussia 
that lies east of the Elbe was won from the Slavs. Bohe- 
mia and Hungary were not Germanized because through 
the weakness of the successors of Otto they succeeded in 
getting an independent ecclesiastical establishment, thereby 
preserving their own nationality. 

Since the coronation of Arnulf, Italy had fallen upon 
evil times. She wiis hopelessly divided, the theatre of con- 
tending peoples and factions. The Greek emperor held 
many places in the southern part of the peninsula, while the 
Mohammedans had possession of Sicily and other islands, 
and a few ports on the main-land. In Rome the pope 
claimed to be master, but the city was the prey of factions 
among the nobility. The duchies of Benevento and Spo- 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 97 

leto were practically independent. Lombardy was divided 

into a large number of insignificant principalities, whose 

rulers were all striving for the control of Italy and the 

royal or imperial crown. One of these contestants, Lothar 

of Provence, died in 950, and his widow, Adelaide, a Bur- 

gundian princess, was seized by another claimant of the 

crown for the purpose of compelling her to marry his son. 

Disliking the proposed union, Adelaide appealed to the 

king of Germany for protection. Otto gallantly responded Otto's first 

by crossing the Alps (951) and marrying the princess him- {f^y"^^ ^° 

self. It was his intention to go on to Rome, but revolts at 

home made his speedy return to Germany necessary. 

During this period the papacy was sadly smirched by 
falling under the control of political parties in Rome. 
The magnificent claims of Leo the Great to be the bishop 
of the whole Church were now entirely forgotten in the 
chaos of contending Roman parties. The noble families of Roman fac- 
Rome were divided into factions, each of which strove to *'°"^' 
make one of its number bishop, in order to exercise the 
authority and enjoy the perquisites which that office pos- 
sessed. The duke of Spoleto had a party, as did also Ber- 
engar and the other phantom kings who displayed their 
weakness in the unfortunate peninsula. The German king 
had his supporters, and there was an anti-German faction 
which objected to any interference on the part of the Ger- 
man king. The rage and violence shown by these factions 
is almost incredible. In 891 Formosus, a friend of Arnulf 
of Germany, was made pope. Throughout his pontificate 
he was known to be an ally of the German emperor, and 
the bitterness against him was intense. When Stephen VI. 
was elected by the faction of Spoleto his hatred of the 
Germans was so great that he had the remains of Formosus 
exhumed in order to go through the forms of a trial. The 
body of Formosus was clothed in pontifical robes, placed 



98 The Medieval Period 

on a papal throne, and charges made against him, in a 
synod called together for this purpose. The verdict was, 
of course, unfavorable, and his body was mutilated and 
thrown into the Tiber. 

For nearly forty years Rome was in a turmoil of con- 
tending parties, no one being able to restore order. But 
Alberic. finally, in the course of these struggles, a certain Alberic 

drove out all competitors and made himself master of the 
city with the title of " Princeps atque omnium Romanorum 
senator." Until his death in 954 Alberic held the power 
in Rome, not only over the city but also over the popes. 
The writings of the times contain many invectives, but few 
charges, against Alberic. As a governor he had much 
ability. He tried to ally himself with the eastern emperor, 
and he was interested in the Cluniac reform to such an ex- 
tent that he asked bishop Odo of Cluny to restore the dis- 
cipline in, and reform the monasteries of, Rome. His 
only offence, a great one in the eyes of churchmen, was 
that he kept the papacy thoroughly under his control and 
used the pope as one of his officials. Alberic even wished 
The Papacy to make the papacy hereditary in his family. His son Oc- 
hered^itarv t^vian, a boy of sixteen years, succeeded him in authority, 
and a year later was made pope. He took the title of John 
Xn. (955). His pontificate was disgraceful in the extreme, 
and he shocked the city with his mad pranks and open 
debauchery. Both he and the people of Lombardy are 
said to have appealed to Otto for protection. At any rate. 
Otto again appeared in Italy, ^nd after being crowned em- 
peror (962), spent several months in renovating the papacy 
and restoring order. The people of Rome took an oath to 
him that they would never elect a pope without first con- 
sulting him. 

Under Otto the Great Germany was made the first 
power in Europe. In 973 he celebrated Easter at Quedlin- 

t 

-••.1 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 99 

burg, and held there a great assembly, where he received 
embassies from Rome, Constantinople, from the Hungari- 
ans, Bulgarians, Russians, Slavs, and Danes. The Dukes 
of Bohemia and Poland came in person to do him homage. 
A few days later he died at Memleben, and was buried in Death of 
Magdeburg, his favorite city. U o ., 973. 

The reign of Otto the Great is an important one in the Importance 
history of the civilization of Germany. It has already been reign. 

stated that he allied himself with, and strengthened, the 
clergy in order to resist the dukes, but while using them in 
this way, Otto did not lower their moral and religious tone. 
His bishops and archbishops were all men of ability and 
genuine piety. His reign is noted for a revival in both 
religion and learning. Several members of his family oc- 
cupied high positions in the Church ; Bruno, his brother, 
became archbishop of Cologne ; one of his sons, William, 
was archbishop of Mainz, his uncle, Robert, bishop of 
Trier; other relatives became prominent bishops, abbots, 
and abbesses. All these performed their duties to the 
Church as well as to the emperor without any conflict. At 
the court itself no immorality was tolerated. Otto sur- 
rounded himself with learned men, and his age is marked 
by great literary activity. Many of the great monasteries 
kept chronicles. Some important histories and biographies 
were composed, and poems and comedies were produced. 
The most notable among them were Liutprand's "His- 
tory of Otto," the Annals of Quedlinburg, Hildesheim, 
and St. Gall, Widukind's J?es Gestce Saxonicce, Ekkehard's 
" Walthari Lied," and the historical poems and dramas 
of Hrotsuitha, a nun in the monastery of Gandersheim. 
Her " Lapsus et Conversio Theophili " is regarded as the 
oldest poetical treatment of the Faust legend of the Middle 
Age. In the monasteries, Terence, Horace, Virgil, Sallust, 
And Cicero were read. Otto also imitated theSchola Pal- 

f 



lOO The Mcdiccval Period 

atina of Karl the Great. Otto himself tried to learn Latin, 
but never became able to speak it well. During his reign 
German became a literary language : a harmony of the 
gospels was composed in it and a great epic poem written, 
called "Der Heliand " (The Saviour). It is a life of Jesus 
l)ut into a German setting. It is full of German customs, 
manners, and ways of thinking, and is one of the most im- 
portant sources of our knowledge of the condition of the 
German mind in those times. 
Italy and By receiving the imperial crown, Otto renewed the po- 

Germany Htical bonds which had once held Germany and Italy to- 
gether. This union was in many respects injurious to both 
countries. Instead of exerting themselves in an effort to 
unite Germany and to centralize the power, the emperors, 
drawn into a long and fatal struggle with the papacy, wore 
themselves out in fruitless Italian campaigns, which ended 
disastrously to the Hohenstaufen line. France and Eng- 
land were unified under their own kings, while Italy and 
Germany were unable to achieve political unity till in our 
own day. 
Otto II., Otto II. (973-83), although able, resisted in vain the 

973' 3- decadence that had begun. The barbarians disarranged 

the system of marches on the frontier and checked the 
extension of Germany to the east. Otto II. was succeeded 
Otto III., by his three-year-old son, Otto III. (983-1002), who was 
983-1002. brought up by his mother and tutors in the fantastical idea 
that he should restore Rome to her former greatness by 
making her the seat of his government. He made several 
journeys into Italy to restore order and reform the papacy. 
In 996 he made his cousin pope, Gregory V., and in 999 
elevated to the papacy his tutor, Gerbert, the most learned 
man of his age, with the name of Silvester II. Leaving 
Germany at the mercy of the nobles and the barbarians, 
Otto III. went to Italy and took up his residence on the 



Gcruiaiiy and its Relation to Italy loi 

Aventine Hill (looi). His death the next year ended a 
reign that was as disastrous for Germany as for the im- 
perial power. 

Henry II. (1002-24), known as the Saint, by allying Henry II., 
himself closely with the clergy, and giving his attention 1002^24^ ' 
principally to Germany, was able to revive in part the 
failing authority of the king. The work was taken up and Conrad IL, 
more successfully prosecuted by his successor, Conrad II. ^024-39. 
(1024-39), duke of Franconia. He increased the royal The Fran- 
authority in every way possible. By the bequest of the conia^n Line, 
last king of Burgundy he inherited that kingdom (1032). 
He got possession of the duchies in Germany, and either 
held them himself or gave them to members of his family. 
He sought to diminish the feudal power of the great nobles 
by decreeing that their subjects owed the king military ser- 
vice directly and must come at his call. He won the sym- 
pathy of all sub-vassals by declaring their fiefs hereditary 
and forbidding the great lords to dispossess them without 
sufficient cause. 

By increasing the territory of the empire and strengthen- 
ing the boundaries, by attaching the smaller nobles to him- 
self and getting full possession of the duchies, Conrad II. 
laid the foundation for the prosperous reign of his son, 
Henry III. (1039-56). Although Henry III. was unsuc- Henry III. 
cessful against both the Slavs and Hungarians, he was able 1039-56, 
to hold the turbulent nobles of Germany in check. Ac- 
cording to feudal principles, everyone had the right of pri- 
vate war. Anyone who suffered violence might gather as 
large a force as he could muster and avenge himself on the 
offender. The Church, alleging that no Christian should 
shed blood, attempted to establish the "peace of God " 
on earth by prohibiting all warfare ; but finding it impos- 
sible to enforce so sweeping a prohibition she ordered that 
all combatants should observe the " truce of God " by re- 



102 The Mcdiccval Period 

fraining from all fighting or violence from Wednesday 
evening till the following Monday morning. Henry III. 
not only sanctioned this, but assumed the right to punish 
all who should in any way disturb the peace of the land. 

Unlike his father, Henry HI. did not practise simony. 
He appointed both bishops and abbots, and was careful to 
choose only men that were worthy and able to fill the po- 
sition. He never sold church offices. Taking up the 
great movement which had its origin in the monastery of 
Cluny, he endeavored to reform the morals and life of the 
clergy of Germany in accordance therewith. He fostered 
the schools in the monasteries and established other schools 
for laymen, attendance at which he even thought of mak- 
ing compulsory on the children of the nobles. 
Henry III. Henry made two journeys into Italy (1046 and 1055), 

papacy during the first of which he received the imperial crown. 

The papacy had again become a city office in the hands of 
factions. Each party elected a pope, whenever its needs 
seemed to demand such action. When Henry reached 
Italy (1046) he found three popes claiming the office. In 
councils at Sutri and Rome he deposed all three, assumed 
the title of patricius, and, declaring it was his right to 
name the bishop of Rome, elevated to that position Sudgar 
of Bamberg, who took the name of Clement II. During 
the rest of his reign Henry three times filled the office, al- 
ways with excellent men. In Italy he opposed simony in 
all its forms and refused to take bribes from the candidates 
for the papal throne. The Cluniac ideas were rapidly 
gaining ground, and, since Henry was in hearty sympathy 
with them, he did all he could to establish them, working 
harmoniously with the popes and other reformers to make 
the Church what she should be. 

Henry III. wished to be an absolute master and to rule 
in an autocratic way. His treatment of the nobles was 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 103 

especially distasteful to them, and at his death in 1056 the 
opportunity was offered them to regain their much-coveted 
power. He left a son, Henry IV., only six years old, who 
was no match for them. The emperors, Henry HI. not 
least, had done everything they could to make the Church 
great and powerful, believing that the clergy would always 
be grateful and true to their benefactors. Just at the crit- 
ical time, however, when Henry IV. was a mere boy and 
more than ever needed their help, they deserted him and 
supported the high claims of the bishop of Rome. The 
emperor had claimed and exercised the right to appoint 
the pope. The tables were now to be turned and the pope 
was soon to claim the authority to make and unmake both 
kings and emperors. The fatal struggle between the pa- 
pacy and the emperor for the supremacy of the world was 
about to begin. 

A new power was just arising in southern Italy which Condition of 
was destined to become a powerful aid to the papacy and southern ^ 
to play an important part in the long struggle. From the 
middle of the ninth century the Saracens had possession of 
Sicily, and also held many places on the main-land. The 
principal part of southern Italy, called the Theme of Lom- 
bardy, still belonged to the emperor at Constantinople and 
was ruled by his officers. On the east coast these posses- 
sions extended to the north as far as Mount Gargano, and on 
the west almost to Salerno. To the north of this district was 
a large group of independent or semi -independent princi- 
palities, such as Salerno, Amalfi, Naples, Capua, Benevento, 
and Spoleto which neither the Greek nor the German em- 
peror had been able to attach permanently to his interests. 
They spent their time in warring with one another, or 
with the garrisons of the Greeks or Saracens about them. 
They were mere political fragments, and their condition 
seemed hopelessly chaotic. 



104 



The Mcdicrz'al Period 



The Nor- 
mans get 
possessions 
in southern 
Italy and 
become the 
pope's 
vassals. 



Robert 
Guiscard 
made duke, 
1059. 



Sicily 

conquered, 

1060-1090. 



In 1016 some Normans, returning from a pilgrimage to 
Palestine, were shipwrecked near Salerno, and the prince of 
that town secured their aid in an impending battle against 
the Saracens. The rewards which they carried back home 
with them fired the cupidity of some of their fellow- 
countrymen, and from this time we find Norman soldiers of 
fortune in southern Italy offering their services to the high- 
est bidder. About 1027 the duke of Naples granted Aversa 
to a band of such adventurers, and by conquest they added 
other small territories to this. Having quarrelled with their 
allies, the Greeks, over the distribution of spoil, they at- 
tacked and conquered Apulia, which they organized into a 
kind of republic. The headship in this little state was ac- 
quired by William of the Iron Arm, who passed it on to 
his brothers, each of whom followed an aggressive policy of 
conquest and annexation. In 1053 they made war on pope 
Leo IX. After taking him prisoner, they fell at his feet, 
begged forgiveness and asked to be made his vassals and 
confirmed in their title to the lands which they had con- 
quered. 

In 1057 the ablest of the brothers, Robert Guiscard, 
succeeded to the title of count of Apulia. Two years later 
he appeared before pope Nicholas II. (1059-61), gave him 
the oath of allegiance, and received in return the title of 
duke of Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily. Sicily and a part of 
Calabria were still in the hands of the Saracens, and the 
newly made duke had to conquer them. After about thirty 
years of petty warfare, the Mohammedan power was broken 
and the Norman rule established in Sicily. Robert ruled 
his duchy well ; Amalfi was for awhile one of the principal 
commercial cities of Italv, and the schools of Salerno also 
added lustre to his name. 

A revolution in Constantinople gave Robert an oppor- 
tunity to attempt to extend his territories to the east. In 



Germany and its Relation to Italy 105 

1 08 1 Alexius Comnenus usurped the power and expelled 
the emperor Nicephorus III. Constantine, the son of the 
preceding emperor, Michael VII., had married the daugh- 
ter of Robert Guiscard. Apparently to restore his son-in- 
law, who had a distant claim to the crown, but probably 
to secure the crown for himself, Robert Guiscard gathered 
an army to invade the Greek empire. Gregory VII. gave Robert 
him his blessing and promised to invest him with all the Qj.^e*k ^ ^ 
lands he might conquer. Durazzo, on the coast of Epirus, emperor, 
was first taken. Alexius sent Henry IV. of Germany large 
sums of money, and begged him to make an invasion into 
southern Italy. Alexius also secured the aid of the Vene- 
tians by granting them commercial privileges, such as the 
freedom from tolls and the possession of a Venetian quarter 
in Constantinople. After capturing Durazzo, Robert 
forced his way into the interior. Towns and fortresses fell 
into his hands until he controlled much of Epirus and Thes- 
saly. At this moment Gregory VII., who was hard pressed 
by Henry IV., called on Robert to come to his aid. Leav- 
ing his army in charge of his son Boemund, Robert hastened 
to Rome, where he succeeded in driving off the Germans 
and freeing the pope. But in Thessaly the diplomacy of 
Alexius won the victory. By offering large bribes he won 
over many of the Norman knights. He levied fresh troops 
in other parts of the empire. Boemund's forces were 
gradually weakened by losses in battle, by sickness and de- 
sertions, so that Alexius was able to defeat him and gradually 
force him back to the Adriatic. At last, Durazzo was re- 
taken, and Boemund with his handful of men returned to 
Italy. Although Robert Guiscard renewed the attempt, 
Alexius had in the meanwhile so strongly fortified and gar- 
risoned the coast that Robert met with small success. His Death of 
untimely death in the following year (1085) put an end to Robert, 
the invasion, and Boemund made peace with Alexius, 



I06 The Mcdiccval Period 

The work of Robert Guiscard was to live after him. By 
his conquests he had united Sicily and the southern part of 
Italy into one great duchy, which was to be the basis for 
Basis for a the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He was succeeded as 
kingdom duke by his brother Roger in 1085, who in turn was fol- 

lowed by his son Roger 11. (iioi). This second Roger, 
inheriting the well-known family characteristics, ambition 
and great ability, succeeded in changing his duchy into a 
kingdom (1130). 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Otto I. Henderson, Chaps. VIII. -IX. 

2. The Normans in Sicily. Johnson, Normans, Chap. VI. 



CHAPTER VIII 

FEUDALISM 

LITERATURE.— Adams, Chnlizatton, Chap. IX. 
Hallam, Middle Ages, Chap. II. 
Guizot, Civilization in Europe, Lecture IV. 
Penn. Univ. Translations, Vols. III., ii., v. ; IV. iii. , 

Feudalism is the name applied to the economic, social, Feudalism 
and political relations and conditions existing in Europe 
from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. These economic 
relations are expressed by the phrase " feudal tenure of 
land," the theory underlying which was that the tenant or 
holder of any piece of land had only the use of it, for 
which he must pay certain dues as rent, to the man (lord 
or suzerain) from whom he had received it. Property in 
land was not absolute, but of a beneficiary nature; that is, Economic 
the holder had only the benefits of the use of it, not the f^'^*^°^^'_ 
land itself In theory the land belonged to God, who let ure, 
it to the king, who, in turn, sublet it to his great vassals, 
and these then parcelled it out to their subjects. 

The general word expressing the social relations of the Social rela- 

period is "vassalage," which indicates the personal rela- tions, lord 
*; ° ^ and vassal, 

tion and bond existing between the man who thus held 

the land and the man from whom he had received it. It 
conveys on the side of the vassal the idea of social in- 
feriority and the obligation to perform certain services for 
his lord. 

The political relations of the period are expressed by Political re- 

the words " immunity, and sovereignty," which mean that Nations, im- 

munity. 
the holder of an estate is, in the matter of its government, 

107 



io8 The Mcdiccval Period 

independent of his lord ; that is, with the use of the land he 
also received from his lord the right, within his own terri- 
tory, to perform the judicial, executive, and even, to some 
extent, the legislative functions of government, and in the 
ordinary exercise of these functions he is free from all in- 
terference on the part of his lord. He is, therefore, on his 
own domain, to all intents and purposes, and, within cer- 
tain limits, an independent king. The essential features of 
feudalism then are these three things — feudal tenure, vas- 
salage, and immunity. 
Origin of This condition of affairs was the outcome of the chaos of 

feudalism. ^j^^ ^^^^ centuries which followed the death of Karl the 
Great. Not even he had been able wholly to centralize 
the power, and to sustain a personal relation to all his sub- 
jects. He struggled during all his reign against the ten- 
dency to separation, and the ambitious efforts of various 
provinces of his empire to achieve local independence. The 
machinery of his government was not inherently weak; 
it needed only a strong and vigorous man to conduct it. 
Under his successors, in the ninth and tenth centuries, be- 
cause of their weakness, and the struggles of rebellious sons 
and nobles, his empire broke up into many pieces. There 
was no one to enforce the laws and preserve order, since the 
emperor was too weak to do so. Men found that they 
could break the laws, therefore, with impunity. The strong 
oppressed the weak, seized their goods, their lands, and 
even their persons, forcing them into the position of vas- 
sals or serfs. This is the period of violence and usurpations, 
or what the Germans most appropriately call Fmisirccht or 
" fist right ; " the man with the strong arm might do what- 
ever he chose. The wheels of government stopped, and the 
Duruy, Bk. i)eoj)le had, therefore, to take care of themselves. " Roy- 
V., Chap, ^jjy j-jQ longer performed the duties for which it was insti- 
tuted, and protection, which could not be obtained from 



Feudalism 109 



the nominal head of the state, was now sought from the 
bishops, counts, barons, and all powerful men." Their 
attempts to take care of themselves resulted in a compli- 
cated set of customs and practices, the sum of which was 
feudalism. The weak man, in order that he might not 
be utterly destroyed by the violence of those who were 
stronger than he, often willingly surrent'ered all that he 
had to some bishop or count, put himself under his protec- 
tion, and assumed the vassal relation. The violence and 
chaos of the ninth and tenth centuries produced these 
changes and brought about this condition of affairs. Even 
before the ninth century there were prevalent among the 
peoples of Europe many customs which furnished certain 
elements of feudalism, but they were not what produced it. 
Such things as the German coinitatus, or Gefolge, and the 
Gallic ''commendation," undoubtedly were prototypes 
of some of the feudal customs, but these would not have 
developed into feudalism if it had not been for the chaotic 
economic, social, and political condition of Europe in those 
two centuries. 

Under Karl the Great tenure of office had depended upon 
his will; under his weak successors, many of the imperial 
and royal officials declared that they not only held their 
offices by a life tenure, but that these were also hereditary Office and 

in their family. These claims they were able to make s:ood '^■"'is be- 

•^ ° come hered- 

in spite of the imperial opposition. ■ In this way the judicial, itary. 

executive, and legislative functions of the central govern- 
ment were usurped. Karl the Great had rewarded his offi- 
cials with gifts of lands. Under his successors, all the 
holders of such lands succeeded in making their possessions 
hereditary in their family, while still recognizing the em- 
peror as the actual possessor of them. 

Many who held property by the allodial (freehold or fee 
simple) tenure were deprived of their lands by force and 



no 



The MedicEval Period 



Freehold 
lands be- 
come feudal. 



Feudalism 
not a sys- 
tem. 



reduced to the position of vassals. Others, when they saw 
themselves exposed to so great danger, bought protection by- 
offering to surrender their lands to some lord on the condi- 
tion that he would protect them and permit them, as his 
tenants or vassals, to hold the same lands. Under the em- 
perors of the sixth and seventh centuries, a similar process 
was going on because of the heavy taxation and the oppres- 
sion by the government. Previously all land had been 
held by the allodial tenure, but gradually this was so thor- 
oughly changed that by the end of the twelfth century the 
principle was generally acknowledged that all land must 
have a feudal lord and be held by the feudal tenure. In 
the thirteenth century there was very little land in western 
and northern Europe held in any other way. Fiefs and 
vassalage, therefore, arose from grants, usurpations, seiz- 
ures, and voluntary surrender. 

Since feudalism grew out of the chaos of the times, it 
could hardly be expected that it would have a uniform 
character. In fact, the feudalism of one province differed 
from that of another. In the general stress and danger 
each one made such terms as he could with his lord. 
Feudalism is not a system, therefore ; it is as chaotic and 
irregular as the period in which it arose. To almost every 
general statement about it exceptions could be found. 
Classifications are impossible, because of the great and nu- 
merous variations which' are everywhere met with. It is a 
misnomer to speak of the feudal "system," since by that 
word the idea is conveyed that it is an orderly and uni- 
form set of customs and regulations. 

A great step toward better things was taken when Henry 
III. declared himself to be guardian of the public peace, or 
"peace of the land," and threatened to punish all who 
disturbed it. By this means private warfare was partially 
limited. The chaos and anarchy of* the ninth and tenth 



Feudalism 



III 



centuries yielded in a measure to regularity and order. 
The customs were more fixed and better observed. Feu- 
dalism became less chaotic, and society, therefore, more 
stable ; violence became less and security greater ; travel 
was possible because of the greater 'safety along the high- 
ways. The effect was soon seen in the steady revival of 
commerce, which became more pronounced as the eleventh 
century advanced. 

The Church was completely drawn into feudal relations. The Church 
In those days of violence and rapine, the robber and plun- ?"^ Feudal- 
derer had little or no regard for the property of the Church, 
or the lives of the churchmen. Churches and monasteries, 
like individuals, were, therefore, compelled to seek pro- 
tection. The bishop or priest, for his church or diocese, 
and the abbot or prior, for his monastery, surrendered 
the church's or monastery's property to some lord and 
received it back in return for the payment of certain 
rents and dues. Such churches and monasteries were le- 
gally feudal individuals, and were, of course, required to 
perform all feudal duties. The lands, indeed, belonged to 
the Church, and, theoretically, could not be alienated 
from the Church and ecclesiastical uses. As late as the 
eleventh century it was not at all uncommon for the clergy 
to marry. Since fiefs were hereditary, it seemed perfectly 
proper that their children should be provided for out of 
the church lands which they held. But, unless all their 
children became clergymen, these church lands would pass 
into the hands of laymen and therefore be lost to the 
Church. One of the purposes of the prohibition of the 
marriage of the clergy was to prevent this alienation and 
diminution of the church lands. 

The land, office, or any right or privilege granted and Feudal 
held as indicated above was called a fief, feud, or benefice, ^^^'■'"s. 
The lord, liege, or suzerain, was the one who granted a 



112 



Tlic Mcdiaval Period 



Noble or 
military ser- 
vice. 



fief. The receiver of it was his vassal or hege-man. Sub- 
infeudation was the regranting of a fief by a vassal to a 
third person, who, therefore, became a vassal to a vassal. 
In connection with the infeudation of a fief there were cer- 
tain rights and ceremonies called homage ; kneeling with 
uncovered head, folded hands, and sword ungirt before 
his prospective lord, the vassal made a set speech in which 
he vowed that he would become the lord's " man " and 
perform all the duties which this relation demanded. The 
lord then raised him, received his oath of fidelity, and by 
a symbolic act (usually the presentation of a sword, stand- 
ard, sceptre, ring, staff, a bit of earth or a twig) invested 
him with the possession of the fief in question. 

The one great duty of the lord to his vassal was to pro- 
tect him. The lord must avenge his vassal's wrongs, de- 
fend him in all his privileges, and secure him justice in all 
matters. The vassal, on the other hand, owed his lord 
service, which might be of various kinds. Military service 
was, in some respects, the most important, and in accord- 
ance with the ideas of the times was regarded as noble. 
Service in labor, gifts, money, and produce, was regarded 
as menial or ignoble. Military service in the days of Karl 
the Great had been required of all freemen. The army 
was composed of the whole people under arms. As the use 
of cavalry was introduced and became general, and the 
practice of wearing armor universal, it became impossible 
for everyone to equip himself with the required parapher- 
nalia. Continuous and far-distant campaigns made it nec- 
essary for many people to remain at home to till the soil. 
Karl the Great had the right to call his army together at 
any time, and demand their service in any part of the em- 
pire, and for any length of time. By offering united re- 
sistance the vassals later succeeded in acquiring two im- 
portant limitations to this : they could be compelled to 



Feudalism 1 1 3 



serve only forty days in the year, and only at a reasonable 
distance from their homes. 

Feudal armies could not be levied directly by the king ; 
he must first send the summons to his great vassals, with 
the order to appear with a certain number of men at a cer- 
tain time and place. These, in turn, delivered the order 
to their vassals, and so the command was passed along un- Feudal ar- 
til it had reached the end of the line of vassals. Under "^*^^' 
such conditions it is easily apparent that a feudal army was 
of little use, even when it was got together. Since wars 
must be fought, the rulers ceased to rely on their feudal 
levies, and engaged mercenary troops, which they kept as 
a standing army. Among the special duties laid upon a 
vassal were the following : If in a battle the lord were un- 
horsed the vassal must give him his own horse ; if the lord 
were in personal danger, the vassal must defend him with 
his life ; if the lord were taken prisoner of war, the vassal 
was bound to go as a hostage for him. 

There were various circumstances under which the lord Feudal 
might demand money from his vassals. When he knighted *^"^^- 
his eldest son, or gave his eldest daughter in marriage, or 
himself was taken prisoner, he might demand any sum 
which his vassal was able to pay. Such payments were 
called " aids," and tended to become fixed. A relief was 
a sum of money paid by an heir Avhen he entered upon his 
inheritance at the death of his father. Ordinarily this was 
the entire income of the estate for a year. The same rule 
existed in regard to ecclesiastical offices. The newly ap- 
pointed bishop or priest was compelled to pay the first- 
fruits (the annates), which meant the income of his office 
for a year. If a vassal died without heirs, his property re- 
verted to the lord (escheat), and might then be relet to 
another vassal. If a vassal wished to surrender his fief to 
another, he had first to get the consent of his lord and pay 



114 TJic Mediccral Period 

a certain sum of money (fine upon alienation). If a vassal 
were guilty of treason, the lord might claim his possession 
by forfeiture. In England the king claimed, also, certain 
other rights, such as wardship and marriage ; that is, if a 
vassal died leaving only children who were minors, the king 
became their guardian, and managed, and had the income 
from, their estates until they became of age. His consent 
to their marriage must be obtained, for which they were 
expected to pay well. One of the most oppressive rights 
of the lord was that of fodrum ; that is, the maintenance 
of himself and retinue, or even his army ; when passing 
through any district he might demand that its residents 
supply himself and his followers with food. In the same 
way, he might require the people along the way to furnish 
him a sufficient number of horses and \vagons to transport 
him and his train from one place to another. 
Feudal rents The rents due from the vassal were of various kinds. 
Generally a certain sum was due for the land, another for 
the house, sometimes another for the fire (chimney), and 
ordinarily a small tax for each head of stock (cattle, sheep, 
hog^, etc.). Of course the lord received a certain share of 
all that was produced on the soil, of the wheat, hay, wine, 
chickens, stock, honey, beeswax, and, in fact, of everything. 
A charge was also made for the privilege of pasturing the 
stock in the forests or fields of the lord, for obtaining fire- 
wood from his forests, and for fishing in the streams which 
were regarded as his property. The peasants were forbid- 
den to sell their grain for a certain length of time after the 
harvest, or their wine after the vintage, in order that the 
lord might have a temporary monopoly in these articles. 
They were compelled to bake their bread in his oven, grind 
their corn at his mill, and press their grapes in his wine- 
press, for all of which a suitable toll in kind was charged. 
The lord could also seize the grain, wine, and other prod- 



and duties. 



Feudalism 1 1 5 



uce of his tenant, paying him what he chose, either in cash 
or at the end of a certain time. The tenant was required 
to labor also for his lord a certain number of days in the 
year. He must till his fields, care for his crops, make his 
wine, furnish horses and wagons on demand, haul his wood 
for the fires in the house, stones for building purposes, keep 
his castle and other buildings in repair, build defences, re- 
pair the roads and bridges, and render a multitude of other 
services. 

The lord exercised over his tenants the power of a judge. Feudal jus- 
All cases were tried before him or his officers. He had the 
right to impose and collect fines for all sorts of offences. 
For every crime and misdemeanor there was a fixed money 
penalty. The administration of justice on a great domain 
was, therefore, the source of a considerable income. The 
lord held court three times a year, at which all his vassals 
were expected to be present ; but such attendance was soon 
felt to be burdensome and they secured permission to ab- 
sent themselves on the payment of a fee. 

These are some of the most important rights of a feudal 
lord. It was to the lord's interest, of course, to multiply 
them and enforce them whenever possible. The vassals 
did all they could to limit them, and to preserve their lib- 
erty and independence. It is apparent, however, that the 
vassals were subject to innumerable burdens, and if their 
lord or his overseer were so disposed, their lives could be 
made unendurable. 

The land was ordinarily divided into large estates, or Disposition 
domains, in the hands of what we may call great landlords, o^ *"^ s°"- 
who, of course, did no work themselves. Very often they 
did not even oversee their estates but left that work to the 
care of a foreman or agent. This office of agent often be- 
came a fief, but sometimes it was farmed out for a certain 
sum. The holder of it received no salary, but was ex- 



Il6 The Mediaeval Period 

pected to get his i)ay out of the administration of the office 
itself. This he did at the expense of the peasants. The 
central house, or manor of the estate, was regarded as the 
residence of the lord, although it frequently happened that 
he spent little time at it, especially if he possessed several 
domains. The manor was often the residence of the agent. 
About the manor was a considerable amount of land which 
was held by the lord and cultivated for his benefit. 
Since all his tenants owed him a certain number of days' 
" , labor, he never had any difficulty in having this land well 

cultivated. 
Feudal All the rest of the tillable land and meadow after being 

society, divided into small lots and parcelled out among the ten- 

ants became hereditary in the family of the one who tilled 
them. These tenants lived, generally, in little houses 
grouped together, forming a village. All the inhabitants 
of the country were known as peasants (rustici, vil- 
lains), and may be divided into two classes, serfs and 
free. But within these two divisions there were many 
variations. 

Feudal society may be divided into three classes, 
the peasants or tillers of the soil, the citizens or in- 
habitants of the towns, forming the industrial class, and 
the aristocracy, who lived upon the labors of the other 
two classes. 
Serfs. The slavery of the early empire had been changed into 

serfdom. The slaves had become attached to the soil which 
they tilled and were no longer sold. They were allowed 
to marry, and in accordance with the prevailing feudal 
customs received a bit of land to till. At first the lord 
could tax his serfs at will, but gradually limits were set to 
the demands which he might make. The serf paid an an- 
nual poll-tax, and if he married someone belonging to an- 
other domain he also paid a certain sum for the privilege 



Feudalism 1 1 7 



of doing so. He could neither alienate nor dispose of his 
possessions by will, and at his death all that he had went 
to the lord. The serf could neither be taken from his land, 
nor might he leave it ; yet many serfs ran away from their 
lords, and, passing themselves off for freemen, took service 
with other lords. If caught, however, they could be re- 
stored to their former lord ; but if they could secure ad- 
mission to the ranks of the clergy they thereby became free 
men. They might also become free in other ways. They 
might, if their master were willing, formally renounce him, 
surrender all their goods, and quit the domain. On the 
other hand, the lord might set a serf free on the payment 
of a certain sum. This became, indeed, a favorite way of 
raising money. The lord would set free all the serfs of his 
domain and demand the payment of the fee. Since they 
became his free tenants and must remain and till his land, 
he really lost nothing by setting them free, but rather 
gained. On the other hand, people might be reduced to 
serfdom by force. The character of free and servile had 
even become attached to the soil. Certain parts of a do- 
main were called free, probably because they had always 
been occupied by free peasants, while other parts were 
called servile, probably because they had always been 
tilled by slaves who gradually became serfs. If a free peas- 
ant occupied this servile land he thereby lost his free char- 
acter and became a serf. The free peasants were more 
nearly like renters who pay so much each year for the use 
of their lands either in money or in produce. Their lands 
were also hereditary. Being independent of their lord 
they could dispose of their possessions. There was noth- 
ing to prevent them from amassing a considerable amount 
of property. 

In a later chapter will be found a description of the class Citizens, 
of citizens. The cities themselves arose after the establish- 



ii8 



The Medi(£val Period 



ment of feudalism, but were forced into the feudal rela- 
tions. They were, in fact, regarded as feudal person- 
alities, and were treated much as a feudal individual. 
The city, as a whole, owed feudal duties. As the cities 
grew large and rich they resisted the feudal claims of 
their lords and were one of the powers that destroyed 
feudalism. 

Nobility. Sharply separated from the laboring classes were the 

nobility. This nobility was divided into two classes, the 
secular and the ecclesiastical. The only occupation of the 
secular nobility was the use of arms. Only he could enter 
this class who had sufficient money to equip himself as a 
warrior and to support himself without work ; for work was 
regarded as ignoble. It is probable that for centuries the 
acquisition of sufficient wealth enabled anyone to pass into 
the ranks of the nobility. But in the thirteenth century 
nobility became hereditary. The line was sharply drawn 
between the noble and the ignoble families. Noble birth 
was added to the requisites of nobility, and eventually be- 
came the only requisite. Wealth alone was no longer the 
passport to noble rank. Intermarriage between nobles and 
commoners was forbidden, or at least regarded as a mesal- 
liance. In Germany and France all the children born into 
a noble family inherited the title, while in England the 
title and wealth passed only to the eldest son. He only 
was required to marry within his class. The younger 
children might marry into ignoble families without there" 
by forming a mesalliance, a fact which accounts for 
the community of interest which has ever existed in 
England but not elsewhere between commoner and aris- 
tocracy. 

Cavalry. From the tenth century it became customary to fight on 

horseback. Whoever was able to equip himself with a 
horse and the necessary armor was regarded as a member 



Feudalism 119 



of the aristocracy of arms. Only the common people still 
fought on foot. From this use of the horse came the terms 
"chivalry " and " chevalier." Both man and horse were 
protected by armor in such a way that they were almost 
invulnerable. The knight wore for defence a helmet, coat 
of mail, and a shield, and for attack carried a sword and 
lance. Improvements and additions were constantly made 
in the armor, which gradually became so heavy that the 
knight was almost helpless except on his horse. For or- 
dinary purposes he kept a light horse, but for battle, a 
strong animal was required because of the weight of the 
armor. Every knight was also attended by an esquire, 
whose duty it was to care for his horse and weapons and to 
serve as a body-servant. 

Among this great body of men of arms there grew up a Chivalry, 
set of customs and ideas to which the name of chivalry was 
given. It came to be regarded as a closed society into 
which, after certain conditions had been fulfilled, one could 
be admitted by initiatory ceremonies. Every young noble- 
man was required to learn the use of arms by serving an 
apprenticeship of from five to seven years. Generally he 
was attached to some knight, whom he attended every- 
where, serving him in all sorts of ways. Such service, 
however, was not regarded as ignoble. At the close of his 
apprenticeship the young man bathed and put on his armor. 
His master then girded him with a sword and struck him 
with his hand on the shoulder, at the same time addressing 
him as knight. This is the earlier form of the ceremony. 
From the twelfth century on, the clergy added thereto 
many rites, all of a religious character. The candidate 
must also fast, spend a night in prayer, attend mass on the 
following morning, and lay his sword on the altar that it 
might be blessed by the priest, who then addressed him on 
his special duties as a knight. 



I20 The Mediceval Period 

Castles. The warlike character of the times showed itself in the 

dwellings as well as in the sports of the nobility. They 
dwelt in forts rather than in houses. Their castles were 
built in the places most easily fortified and defended. 
Ditches, moats, and walls formed the outer defences, while 
the castle itself, with its high lookout tower, made a strong- 
hold which alone could endure a heavy siege. The sports 
of the nobility consisted principally of hunting, hawking, 
and the holding of tournaments. The tournament was sup- 
posed to be a mimic battle, but it often resulted fatally. 
At one tournament alone it is said that sixty knights were 
killed. 

The Church was profoundly influenced by feudal ideas 
and customs. The whole clergy, the archbishops, bishops, 
and abbots, through their great temporal possessions, were 
drawn into the feudal relation. The Church taught not 
only that almsgiving was one of the cardinal virtues, but 
also that she herself was the fittest object on which it might 
be practised. Everywhere people gave liberally to the 
Church, hoping thereby to secure the greatest possible in- 
tercession with God from the clergy. Monasteries, churches, 
and colleges of canons became rich from such gifts ; in the 
The high course of centuries the clergy became possessors of vast 
clergy. tracts of land and great privileges. Every abbot, bishop, 

and archbishop was therefore a landlord on whom the care 
of these great estates devolved. Because of their immense 
wealth, as well as the high honor attached to their calling, 
they also belonged to the aristocratic class and ranked with 
the secular nobility. Since they were the most learned 
they were also used by the kings and emperors as counsel- 
lors and high officials. The grent incomes of the monas- 
teries and bishoprics made them especially attractive, and it 
early became the custom to put the younger sons of noble 
families into the best of such positions. These ecclesiasti- 



Feudalism 121 



cal lands, however, could not escape the feudal relation. 
The ruler of each country declared that all such lands owed 
him the customary feudal dues. Every bishop or abbot, on 
his accession to the office, became the king's vassal and 
must take the vow of homage and the oath of fealty to him 
and receive from him the investiture of the temporal pos- 
sessions of his office. He must therefore perform, in addi- 
tion to his ecclesiastical duties, also the civil duties which 
were required of other vassals. This dual character of 
the clergy was destined to become one of the principal 
causes of the bitter struggle between the empire and the 
papacy. It was impossible for the clergy to be faithful 
to two masters, both of whom demanded the fullest obe- 
dience. 

Feudalism reached its height from the tenth to the thir- Causes of 
teenth centuries and then gradually declined. The inven- ^"^ "^^^y o* 
tion of gunpowder revolutionized the methods of warfare. 
Against fire-arms, the knight's armor and castle were 
eciually useless. The close of the Middle Age is marked by 
the rapid growth of the power of the kings, who succeeded 
in gathering the power into their own hands. The nobles 
were deprived of their authority. Out of the fragments of 
feudalism the king built up an absolute monarchy. The 
growth of the cities, also, did much to break down feudal- 
ism, for as they increased in power and wealth they wTested 
mdependence from their lords and threw off the feudal 
yoke. Various forces were at work to diminish the num- 
ber of serfs and villains, such as the crusades, the great 
pests, and the constant wars. The feudal lords were left 
without a sufficient number of tenants to do their work. 
The demand for laborers created the supply, and we find 
at once an increasing number of free laborers who work for 
wages without any feudal ties. Gradually feudal tenures 
were changed into allodial tenures. The fifteenth century 



122 The Medicoval Period 

saw the breaking up of feudalism, although in France and 
elsewhere certain fragments remained till the French Revo- 
lution, and the social organization of Europe is still largely 
feudal in its fundamental ideas. 

SPECIAL TOPIC 
Feudal Institutions as portrayed in Penn. Univ. Tratislations, Vol. IV., iii. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE GROWTH OF THE PAPACY 

LITERATURE.— See General Literature. 

"Li. won Han)ie, The History of the Popes. 3 vols. $1.00 per vol. Mac- 

millan. See Vol. \. 
J.N. Murphy, The Chair 0/ Peter, or the Papacy and its Benefits, $1.60. 

Roman Catholic Publishing Co. 
Gregorovius, The History 0/ Ro})ie. 5 vols. 6 s. per vol. Bell, London. 

During the first two hundred years of the Church's ex- 
istence its actual organization was very loose. Each bishop 
was practically independent of all other bishops. But 
there was a steady development throughout the Church to- 
ward a closer union of all its parts. The magnificent po- 
litical and civil organization of the empire furnished an 
excellent model, which was copied by the Church almost 
unconsciously. Corresponding to the political head of a 
province, there grew up an ecclesiastical official whose 
authority extended over the province and whose residence 
was its capital ; that is, there was gradually developed above 
the bishops of a- province an archbishop or metropolitan. 
The civil province thus became also an ecclesiastical prov- Arch- 
ince. The new office naturally fell to the bishop of the '^ °P^* 
capital of the province. The Church followed the organi- 
zation of the empire so closely that the ecclesiastical rank 
of the bishop was at first determined by the political rank 
of the city in which he lived. 

As several political provinces were grouped together to 
form a larger division (eparchy), so also several ecclesiasti- 
cal provinces, with archbishops at their respective heads, 

123 



124 



The Mediccval Period 



Patriarch. 



Two lines 
of develop- 
ment. 



Conditions 
favoring the 
growth of 
the spiritual 
authority of 
the pope. 



were grouped together and formed a larger province, with 
an over-archbishop at its head. For this officer and his 
diocese the word patriarch and patriarchate were used in 
the fourth century. The capitals of these patriarchates 
were Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Caesarea in Cappado- 
cia, Heraclea (which was early replaced by Constantinople), 
Corinth, Alexandria, and Rome. In the sixth century 
only five of these were recognized — Jerusalem, Antioch, 
Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. 

In tracing the growth of the papacy there are two things 
to be kept clearly separate : the development of the bishop 
of Rome as the head of the whole Church, and the growth 
of his power as temporal sovereign. These will be traced 
separately till the year 755, after which they will be treated 
together. 

In the fourth century the bishop of Rome already had 
two offices : he was, first, the bishop of Rome, and, sec- 
ond, he was also archbishop or patriarch over the territory 
about Rome. We must discover how he added to these 
two a third, the office of bishop of the whole Church. 
Among the natural influences which helped bring this 
about may be mentioned the following : 

The bishop of Rome was the only patriarch in the west, 
and he therefore had no competition. Since Rome was 
the capital of the empire, it seemed natural to think of the 
Church at Rome as in some sense the capital congregation, 
and its bishop the first bishop in the world. The analogy 
between him and the emperor would inevitably be drawn. 
The Church at Rome gave liberally for the relief of the 
persecuted and of the poor of other congregations. The 
bishop of Rome had charge of the disbursement of these 
funds, and received much of the reverence generally given 
to benefactors. The bishops of Rome were, for the most 
part, on that side of the great theological questions which 



The Grozvth of the Papacy 125 

was accepted by the whole Church, and in consequence 
thereof the feeling arose that they alone of all bishops could 
be depended on to preserve the orthodox creed of the 
Church in all its integrity. The bishops and patriarchs in 
the east quarrelled, not only about the creed, but also about 
political questions. In their disputes they appealed so 
often to the bishop of Rome, that in the end he asserted 
that he had the right to judge between them. At the 
council of Sardica (343) it was proposed to make Julius, 
who was then bishop of Rome, judge in all cases where 
bishops who had been condemned by a council wished to 
appeal to a higher power. This action met with opposi- 
tion because it was conferring on Julius a power which he 
had not previously possessed. The eastern bishops refused 
to accept it, because it was the act of a local synod, and 
therefore not representative of the whole Church. Al- 
though the honor was given only to Julius, his successors 
claimed the same right. The action of this council was, 
therefore, an important step in the development of the uni- 
versal jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome. A comicil at 
Nicsea (325) took certain action which implied the equality 
of all the patriarchs (J.e., the bishops of Rome, Alexandria, 
Antioch, Ephesus, Csesarea, and Heraclea). The council 
at Constantinople (381) decreed that the bishop of Con- 
stantinople, who had now replaced the bishop of Heraclea, 
should have the first place in honor and dignity after the 
bishop of Rome, because Constantinople was regarded as 
the new Rome or capital of the empire. This council 
merely fixed a matter of etiquette, saying only that the 
bishop of Rome possessed more official dignity and honor 
than the others. The Council of Chalcedon (451) ad- 
mitted that the bishop of Rome was entitled to great honor 
because he was bishop in the ancient capital; but the bishop 
of New Rome was entitled to equal honor, because he was 



126 



The Mediccval Period 



Dionysius 
Exiguus. 



The popes 

carry on 
missionary 
v7ork in the 
•west. 



bishop of the city in which the emperor resided and the 
Senate had its seat. Against this the bishop of Rome, Leo 
the Great (440-61), protested. He admitted that Con- 
stantinople was the capital of the empire, but declared that 
the political rank of a city did not determine the ecclesiasti- 
cal rank of its bishop. It is the apostolic origin of a Church 
that entitles it to a higher ecclesiastical rank. The Church 
of Rome, he declared, had been founded by Peter, the 
prince of the Apostles. To his successors Peter had passed 
on all his rights, dignity, and supremacy, so that as he was 
first among the Apostles, the bishops of Rome were first 
among all the bishops of the world. By virtue of being the 
successor of St. Peter, Leo claimed the right to exercise ab- 
solute power over the whole Church. Leo was the first to 
give a clear-cut expression to this Petrine theory, which 
from that day to this has been regarded as the basis for the 
supremacy of the bishop of Rome. 

Early in the sixth century Dionysius Exiguus, a monk 
of Rome, published two books, the one a collection of 
canons of the various church councils, the other a collec- 
tion of letters, opinions, and decisions of popes on various 
matters. Dionysius treated the opinions of the popes as 
if they had as much weight as the action of the councils ; 
and as these two works were widely used in the west, they 
helped raise the authority of the papacy. 

While all the causes that have just been named contrib- 
uted to elevate the pope to a position of supremacy, it was 
his success in Christianizing the barbarians in western Eu- 
rope that assured him his position at the head of the Church. 
The bishops of Rome labored for the conversion of the 
Arian Germans to the orthodox belief, and made a close 
alliance with the Franks when Chlodwig accepted the true 
faith. The Christianization of England through the efforts 
of Gregory the Great has already been described. These 



The Grozvth of the Papacy 127 

Anglo-Saxons, the pope's youngest converts, were the most 
zealous promoters of his interests. Through them the or- 
thodox faith, one of the tenets of which was the supremacy 
of the bishop of Rome, was carried to Ireland, Scotland, 
and to all the German tribes on the main-land who were 
either heathen or only nominally Christian, and who ac- 
knowledged no allegiance to the bishop of Rome. An 
Anglo-Saxon princess. Queen Margaret of Scotland, toward 
the end of the eleventh century, subjected the Church of 
Scotland to the papacy, and made it conform in all respects 
to the Roman Catholic Church, Only the Irish Church, 
the Church of St. Patrick, remained independent and yield- 
ed no obedience to Rome, till Henry II. (1154-89) con- 
quered a part of Ireland and brought its Church into sub- 
jection to Rome. 

In a former chapter attention was called to the mission- 
ary labors of Irish monks in Scotland and England. They 
did not confine their efforts to those countries. Many mis- 
sionary bands, numbering generally thirteen persons, were 
sent to the main-land, and labored among the Frisians and Irish mis- 
other German tribes, whose Christianity was only nominal. the"conU-°" 
Their Church organization was very loose, and they were nent. 
not attached to the bishop of Rome. The Irish mission- 
aries found an ample field among them for all their activity. 

It was a West Saxon, Winifred, or Boniface, as he was Boniface, 
later called, who was to reorganize the Church among all °So-755. 
the Germans, and subject it to the bishop of Rome. He 
was born about 680, was brought up in a monastery, and 
ordained a priest when about thirty years old. In 718 he 
went to Rome and received from the pope a commission to 
Christianize and Romanize all the Germans in central Eu- 
rope. For nearly five years he travelled through Germany, 
from Bavaria to Frisia, in the prosecution of his work. In 
723 he again went to Rome, and was made a missionary 



128 



The Mediccval Period 



The Roman 
Catholic 
conquest of 
the west. 



An estimate 
of his work. 



bishop without a diocese, at which time he took the sanie 
oath to the pope which was required of the bishops in 
the diocese of Rome. Practically, therefore, the pope re- 
garded Germany as a part of his diocese, and as closely 
attached to him as were the districts about Rome. 

From Karl Martel, and after him from Pippin, Boniface 
obtained support in his work. He received supplies of both 
men and means from England, and was able to establish in 
Germany many monasteries. In 743 he was made arch- 
bishop of Mainz. He called councils, at which the work 
of organization was perfected, heresies refuted, superstitious 
rites and customs forbidden, the lives of the clergy regu- 
lated, his opponents condemned, and the authority of the 
bishop of Rome acknowledged. 

In 753 he resigned his position as archbishop of Mainz, 
and went again, with a large number of helpers, as a mis- 
sionary to Frisia, where he met a martyr's death (754 or 
755). But the principal part of his work was done. He 
had organized the Church throughout Germany and sub- 
jected it to Rome. It was from this Church of Germany, 
now truly dependent on Rome, that Christianity was to be 
carried to the remaining German tribes, such as the Saxons, 
Danes, and the people of Scandinavia, and to the Slavic 
peoples to the east of the Elbe. In this way the doctrine 
of the supremacy of the bishop of Rome, which had become 
a part of the Roman creed, was spread throughout all Eu- 
rope, and was regarded as an essential jjart of Christianity. 
This movement may be called the Roman Catholic con- 
quest of the West ; for it was a conquest, the outcome of a 
policy, the full results of which could not be foreseen by 
the popes of that time. 

The work of Boniface has been variously judged. He 
has been exalted as the apostle of the Germans and con- 
demned as the enslaver of the German Church. At that 



The Grozvth of the Papacy 129 

time the choice was, in reality, between subjection to Rome 
and heathenism. Boniface chose the former, because it 
was by all odds the best thing to do. The Church among 
the Franks and Germans was in a wretched condition. 
Much of the landed property of the Church was in the 
hands of laymen. There was little or no discipline, and 
no control exercised over the clergy. Each priest did what 
was right in his own eyes. There were, at this time, many 
vagabond priests and monks wandering about over the coun- 
try, obtaining a precarious living by imposing upon the 
people. There was also much heathenism among the peo- 
ple. Such a state of affairs was little better than heathen- 
ism pure and simple, and such Christianity, such a Church, 
would certainly be unable to maintain the Franks in the 
leading position they were now holding. Boniface put an 
end to this disorder. He forbade all monks to leave their 
monastery without sufficient reason. The wandering cler- 
gymen were put under the control of the bishop of the dio- 
cese in which they might be found. Strict discipline was 
everywhere introduced into the monasteries. All monks 
were compelled to live according to the rule of St. Bene- 
dict. Laymen were forbidden to hold church property. 
In a word, the Church was reformed, and a much better 
type of Christianity was established among the Franks. 
This was the work of Boniface and deserves praise and 
admiration. 

The growth of the temporal power of the papacy is, in 
some respects, even more difficult to trace. We have to 
discover how the pope acquired political power ; first, the 
civil authority in Rome and its duchy, and then the tem- 
poral headship over the whole world. 

From the time of Constantine the bishops were entrusted 
with an ever-increasing amount of civil power. They 
acted as judges; they were guardians of morals; they had 



i^o The MedicBval Period 

Growth of the oversight of magistrates and a share in the government 
temporal ^^ ^^^^ cities. To these the bishop of Rome added still 
power. more important powers, and was easily the most important 

man in Rome. He bitterly resented the right, claimed 
and exercised by the emperors at Constantinople, to dic- 
tate to him in ecclesiastical matters, and was finally so an- 
gered by their haughty treatment of him that he was ready 
to revolt.- The image controversy gave him the desired 
opportunity. When the emperor, Leo III., forbade the 
use of images, pope Gregory II. replied that it was not the 
emperor but the bishop of Rome who had authority over 
the beliefs and practices of the Church. Gregory III. 
(731-41) even put the emperor under the ban. 

In his struggle with the Lombards the pope appealed 
first to Karl Martel and then to Pippin, visiting the latter 
in 753-54, and begging him to come and deliver him from 
•their encroachments. Pippin made two campaigns into 
Italy and compelled the Lombards to cede to the pope a 
Beginning strip of territory which lay to the south of them (755). 
state^ Ec? This marks the beginning of the temporal sovereignty of 
the pope. He was freed from the eastern emperor, and rec- 
ognized as the political as well as the ecclesiastical ruler 
of Rome and its surrounding territory, under the over- 
lordship of Pippin, who had the title oi patricius. 

We have seen that the pope took the final step in his 
revolt from the eastern emperor by crowning Karl the 
Great emperor. He persuaded Ludwig the Pious to allow 
himself to be recrowned by him. In 823 he crowned 
Lothar emperor, and later his son, Ludwig II. By this 
long line of precedents the pope so completely established 
his claim to confer the imperial crown that it was not 
seriously questioned for centuries. 

Thus far, in discussing the growth of the papacy, we 
have not taken into account the personal element. Such 



The Growth of the Papacy 131 

men as Leo I., Gregory I., Gregory II., Gregory III., and Makers of 
Nicholas I. (858-67) have, with great justice, been called ^ papacy, 
makers of the papacy, because of their activity in formu- Nicholas I., 
lating and advancing the papal claims. Nicholas I., es- °5o-o7. 
pecially, was a man of great force, and made himself felt 
through all parts of Europe. Throughout his pontificate 
he acted on the theory that he was responsible for the con- 
duct of affairs in the whole empire. He did not wait for 
questions to be brought to him, but considered it his duty 
to take the initiative whenever he discovered anything 
wrong. Under Nicholas the papacy possessed more influ- 
ence and power than ever before, and under none of his 
successors did it reach so high a plane until the appearance 
of Gregory VII. 

For awhile in the tenth century, indeed, it seemed that The papacy 
the papacy was to be destroyed by the local political fac- olfactions 
tions of Rome. The political character of the office made 
it a thing to be coveted by all the great families of the 
city. The dignity of the office was dragged through the 
mire of the ward politics of Rome ; it was controlled by 
infamous women and filled by licentious men. Its politi- 
cal character overshadowed its religious character, and 
the popes forgot that they owed any duty to the outside 
world. Otto L, Otto III., and Henry III. rescued the 
papacy from its perilous position, freed it from the control 
of the Roman nobility, and reminded the popes that they 
were the head of the whole Church and not simply officials 
of Rome. During the eleventh century the papacy, keep- 
ing well in mind its former world-wide claims, grew stead- The papacy 
ily in self-assertion. The Cluniac reform was spreading, the°emper-^ 

and its ideas were gradually taken up by the popes, and ors, reas- 

scrts itself 
their policy shaped in accordance with them. In the 

Council of Pavia (10 18) Benedict VIII. forbade the mar- 
riage of the clergy. Simony, the obtaining of office in 



The Mcdiccz'al Period 



any other way than V)y a canonical election, was also for- 
bidden. 

Henry III. made and unmade popes, and treated them 
as subjects who owed him obedience. Toward the end of 
Leo IX., his reign, however, Leo IX. (1048-54) exhibited a spirit 

104 -54. ^j- iiijepei;i(]eiice in his government wliich portended the 

coming storm. He was appointed by Henry III., but re- 
fused to accept the office until he had been elected by the 
people and clergy of Rome. He travelled incessantly 
throughout Italy, France, and Germany, holding councils, 
settling disputes, and regulating affairs with a vigor and 
independence born of his authority as pope. He went one 
step farther in the question of simony. Every bishop in 
the empire was not only a clergyman, but also, by virtue 
of his office, a kind of political official of the emperor. 
That is, he was compelled to perform certain civil duties. 
He was, besides, a feudal subject of the emperor, and as 
such owed him homage for the church lands which he 
held. The emperor, of course, received certain taxes or 
income from all the lands in the empire, whether owned 
by the Church or by laymen. No bishop could be in- 
ducted into his office until he had taken an oath of alle- 
giance to the emperor and been invested by him with the 
episcopal lands. The pope had no part either in his elec- 
The ques- tion or his investiture or induction into office. Leo. IX. 
vestiture" ^^^^ ^'^^ disadvantages of this to the papacy and its dan- 
broached, gers to the Church, and in the Synod of Rheims (1049) 
asserted the right of the pope to invest the bishojjs with 
the insignia of office. He made no attempt, however, to 
enforce it. 

Gradually the papal theory was working out into all its 
logical conclusions. The popes were slowly perceiving how 
vast were the opportunities offered them. The vision of 
universal dominion floated less dimly before them. The 



conflict 
at hand. 



The Growth of the Papacy 133 

questions at issue between the papacy and the empire were 
being stated with more precision. The conflict was ready The 
to break out. There were wanting only the opportunity 
and the man to make use of it. The opportunity came 
when Henry III. died, leaving a boy only six years old to 
succeed him, and the man was Hildebrand, a papal official, 
but already at Henry's death the power behind the throne. 
As fate would have it, the pope was made the guardian and 
protector of the boy-king. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

t. Gregory I. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. IV., pp. 211- 
22g. $4. Scribner. Barmby, Gregory the Great. 2s. Society for Pro- 
moting Christian Knowledge. London. Milman, History 0/ Latin 
Christia7tiiy. Bk. III., chap. vii. $4.50. Armstrong. 

2. The Iconoclastic Controversy. Bury, Later Roman Empire, II., pp. 

428-449, and 494-498. Macmillan. Milman, Bk. IV., chaps, vii.- 
viii. ; Schaff, IV., pp. 447-470. 

3. Nicholas I. Emerton, Medic^val Europe, pp. 63-76. $1.60. Ginn. Mil- 

man, Bk. v., chap. iv. Schaff, IV., ^61. 



CHAPTER X 

THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE PAPACY AND THE 
EMPIRE (1056-1254) 

LITERATURE.— As in Chaps. III., IV., and IX. See also General Liter- 
ature for Church Histories and Epochs of Church 
History. 

The accession of Henry IV., a mere boy, to the throne 
of Germany, gave the papacy the opportunity for which 
it had been waiting. Since the reform of Henry HI. 
(1046) the papacy had been rapidly gathering power. 
Hildebrand, the adviser of several successive popes, had 
been able to direct all their efforts toward the same end. 
Nicholas The pontificate of Nicholas H. (1059-61) was made 
II. ,1059-61. famous by the alliance which he made with Robert Guis- 
card and by the publication of a decree fixing the manner 
of the election of the pope. Up to this time there had 
been many and great irregularities in the papal elections. 
In theory the pope was elected by the clergy and people of 
Rome ; but the factions in the city had many times con- 
trolled the election and the emperor had often named the 
pope. Hildebrand clearly saw that the elections must be 
taken from the control of the people. In accordance with 
his ideas, Nicholas, in a council (1059), proclaimed a de- 
cree that the seven cardinal or titular bishops of Rome 
should in the future have the sole right to nominate the 
pope, and their nominee must be accepted and elected by 
the clergy of Rome. The people were to have no part in 
the election, and the emperor probably had the right to 
confirm, but not to reject, the pope thus elected. 

134 



Struggle betiveen Papacy and Empire 135 

" Cardinal " was a title given to the clergy attached to 
the oldest and most important churches of Rome and its 
vicinity. The churches in Rome itself were all under the 
bishop of Rome, and were ministered to by presbyters and 
deacons. There were cardinal presbyters and cardinal 
deacons, who were, of course, attached to the principal 
churches. There were seven cardinal bishops, who formed " Cardinal, 
a kind of council to the bishop of Rome, had charge of 
the affairs of the diocese when he was absent from the city 
and assisted him in all great functions ; and to these seven 
the sole right of nominating the pope was now confided. 
They were the bishops of Palcestrina, Porto, Ostia, Tuscu- . 
lum, Candida Silva, Albano, and Sabino. This was the 
beginning of the formation of the College of Cardinals. 
The decree was an important step in the process of freeing 
the papacy from all temporal control. 

In Germany this decree was rejected because it did not 
recognize the rights of the emperor. A council of Ger- 
man bishops actually deposed Nicholas, and at his death 
elected an anti-pope. The empress Agnes became regent, 
but her inability to administer the government led to the 
kidnapping of the young king and the establishment of the 
archbishop of Cologne as regent ; the government then 
assumed a more conciliatory attitude toward the new pope, 
Alexander II., and eventually recognized him. 

In 1065 Henry IV. was declared of age, and took up Henry IV. 
the reins of government. He had exceptional talents, 
and if he had received better training and possessed suffi- 
cient moral earnestness, might have had a far different his- 
tory. But he hardly appreciated his position. He had no 
thought of a reform, and spent his time in the chase or 
with his mistresses, to enrich whom he robbed churches 
and sold offices. He was imperious and insolent, and the 
great dukes were soon alienated from him. Saxony, deeply 



136 The Mcdiceval Period 

offended by his conduct, was ready to revolt. At last, in 
1069, a crisis was reached when he proposed to divorce his 
wife. The diet refused to consent to this step, and formal 
complaints were made against him to Alexander II. The 
pope excommunicated his council and summoned him to 
Rome. The death of the pope, which occurred shortly 
afterward, put an end to the strife for a brief time. 

Hildebrand, who, during several pontificates had been 
the power behind the throne, was now made pope, it would 
seem by a popular demonstration. Ap[)arently the decree 
of Nicholas was disregarded in that the cardinal bishops 
did not nominate the candidate. The people demanded 
Hildebrand for their bishop and the clergy of Rome elect- 
Gregory ^^ ^^^^^- ^^ assumed the title of Gregory VII. Hilde- 
VII., 1073- brand was not personally ambitious ; his conduct as pope 
was determined by his theory of that office. He was not 
a theologian ; in defending one of his friends he almost 
incurred the charge of heresy. A practical man of affairs, 
he had served the curia principally by looking after its 
secular interests. He was a diplomat and politician, ob- 
taining by artifice or well-timed concessions what was 
otherwise unattainable. He made use even of heretics, if 
they could be of service to him. He could make com- 
promises in everything except in the question of the su- 
l)remacy of the papacy. 
Which is Till this time the empire had been regarded as the king- 
the '^'"^ elom of God on earth, and the emperor as its head. Greg- 
the empire cry declared this idea to be false. The empire could not be 
Church ? ^'^^ kingdom of God because it is based on force. On 
the other hand, the Church is based on righteousness and 
can do no wrong. Gregory's fundamental position was, 
therefore, that the Church is the kingdom of God, and the 
pope who is at its head has absolute authority over all the 
world. — 



Struggle hetivecn Papacy and Empire 137 

Gregory's practical genius told him that the Church 
must be a compact unit, thoroughly organized and com- 
pletely under the control of the pope. The unity of the Necessity 

Church could be secured only by concentrating all the ^ central 

■' -^ ^ power in 

power in one man. The Church must obey one will, the Church. 

This would be possible only when one creed and one 

liturgy were everywhere accepted, and when all the clergy 

were bound directly to the head of the Church, the bishop 

of Rome. He therefore required all bishops to take an 

oath of allegiance to him similar to that which vassals Bishops 

rendered to their lords. He gave all the clerc;v the free *t,^^ °^*^ °^ 

° °-' allegiance 

right of appeal to himself, and encouraged them to make to the pope, 
use of it. This, of course, diminished the power of the 
bishops and raised his own accordingly. He replaced the 
authority of synods by assuming the right to decide all Appeals, 
questions, either in person or through his legates. His 
legates played much the same part in his government that 
the mi'ssi dominici had under Karl the Great. They were Papal 
to oversee for him all the affairs of the state to which they ^^^ ^^* 
were sent, control the action of synods, and bind all the 
countries to the pope. They were to be his hands and 
eyes. He definitely assumed control over the councils by 
declaring that he could act without the advice of councils, 
and that their acts were invalid until sanctioned by him. 
He was supported in this by several writers on church law, 
whose controlling principle was the absolute authority of 
the pope, and who, developing church law in accordance 
with Gregory's ideas, attributed more authority to the de- 
crees of the pope than to the action of councils. 

From the very first Gregory put his theory into practice. Gregory 
In 1073 he wrote to the Spanish princes that the kingdom temooral ^ 
of Spain had from ancient times been under the jurisdic- rulers, 
tion of St. Peter, and, although it had been occupied by 
barbarians, it had never ceased to belong to the bishop of 



138 The Mcdiccval Period 

Rome. In 1074, in a letter to Solomon, king of Hun- 
gary, he claimed that country on the ground that it had 
been given and actually transferred to St. Peter by King 
Stephen. He made the same claims to authority over 
Russia, Provence, Bohemia, Sardinia, Corsica, and Sax- 
ony. He made the duke of Dalmatia his subject, and 
gave him the title of king. France, he said, owed him a 
fixed amount of tribute. He laid claim to Denmark, but 
its king resisted him successfully. He wished William the 
Conqueror to hold England as his fief, and William, though 
refusing to acknowledge the pope as his feudal lord, yet 
consented to make the payment of the Peter's pence bind- 
ing on England. 

In a council at Rome (1075) Gregory forbade the mar- 
riage of the clergy, as well as simony in all its forms. He 
threatened to excommunicate all bishops and abbots who 
should receive their offices from the hand of any layman, 
and every emperor, king, or temporal ruler, who should 
perform the act of investiture. This was a hard blow at 
The Strug- all rulers, but especially at the emperor, because the Ger- 
Germany "''^" clergy were his principal support and were the holders 
of large tracts of land. If the pope should be successful 
in carrying this point, the power of the empire would be 
almost destroyed. 

The pope further cited Henry (December, 1075) to ap- 
pear at Rome and explain his conduct in keeping at his 
court certain men whom Gregory had excommunicated, 
and threatened him with the ban if he should refiise to 
come. Henry regarded this as a declaration of war, and 
answered it with defiance. At the council of Worms 
(January, 1076) he charged the pope with having ob- 
tained the papal dignity by improper means, and declared 
him deposed. 

The war was begun. Gregory could count on the sup- 



Struggle hetivcen Papacy and Empire 1 39 

port of the Normans in southern Italy, the popular party Gregory's 
in Lombardy, Matilda, the great countess of Tuscany, allies, 
the Saxons, the discontented nobles of Germany, and that 
rapidly increasing class of people all over the empire who 
were becoming imbued with the ideas of the Cluniac re- 
form. Henry had for his support a large number of his Henry's 
faithful subjects who remained uninfluenced by the action 
of the pope, a large part of the clergy who were patriotic 
but probably guilty of simony, and the imperial party in 
Italy. 

Henry's letter of deposition (January, 1076) to Gregory 
was bold and vigorous. He declares that he had endured 
the misdeeds of Gregory because he had wished to preserve 
the honor of the apostolic throne. This conduct the pope Charges 
had attributed to fear, and had, therefore, dared threaten to ^harees" ^^ 
deprive Henry of the royal power, as if this had been re- 
ceived from him, and not from God. Henry had received 
his office through the Lord Jesus Christ, while Gregory had 
obtained the papal power without God's help. The steps 
by which he had mounted to the throne were cunning, 
bribery, popular favor, and violence. While seated on the 
throne of peace he had destroyed peace. He had attacked 
the king, God's Anointed, who, by the teaching of all the 
holy fathers, could be judged and deposed by God alone. 
The Church had never deposed even Julian the Apostate, 
preferring to leave him to God's judgment. The true 
pope, Peter, had commanded all to fear God and honor 
the king, but Gregory has no fear of God. Let him, there- 
fore, vacate the throne of St. Peter. Henry, with his 
bishops, pronounces the anathema upon him. Let another 
occupy the papal throne who will not cloak his violence 
under the name of religion. Henry, with his bishops, 
orders Gregory to vacate the throne at once. 

The reply of Gregory (February, 1076) was equally im- 



140 The Medicez'al Period 

perious and vigorous. He calls on Peter, Paul, and all the 
saints to witness that he had unwillingly accepted the papal 
ofifice thrust upon him by the Roman Church. This was 
sufficient proof that the Christian world had been com- 
mitted to him. Relying upon the help of St. Peter and 
God, he therefore deposes Henry, because, in his unsi)eak- 
able pride, he has revolted against the Church, and he ab- 
solves all his subjects from obedience to him. Because 
Henry persists in his claims and disobedience to the pope 
Gregory excommunicates him. He expects that St. Peter 
will make his anathema prevail, in order to make the world 
know that he, Peter, is the rock on which the Church is 
built, and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. 
This was, indeed, a new language in the mouth of Greg- 
ory. No pope had ever made such claims or spoken in such 
a tone to the emperor before. For the first time the claim 
is openly made tliat the empire is a dependency of the 
Church. 

Encouraged by the action of the pope, the dissatisfied 
nobles of Germany held a meeting at Tribur (October, 
1076), to which they did not admit the king. After some 
resistance, Henry was compelled to accept the terms known 
as the Oppenheim agreement, which this meeting dictated 
to him. He agreed to remain in Speier and make his 
peace with the pope before the end of February of the fol- 
lowing year ; to lay aside all the royal insignia, which was 
Henry IV. equivalent to resigning his kingship ; and to present him- 
deposed. y^lf in February, 1077, in Augsburg and submit to trial 
before the council, whicli was to be presided over by the 
pope. Nothing could have been more acceptable to Greg- 
ory than to come to Germany and preside over a national 
council and try the king ; but Henry had no intention of 
permitting this to take place. Gregory indeed set out for 
Germany, but while waiting for an escort through Lom- 



Struggle between Papacy and Empire 141 

bardy, was alarmed at tlie news that Henry had escaped 
from Speier, had crossed the Alps in the dead of winter 
and was already in Lombardy, where he had been received 
with every mark of affection by the people. Being in 
doubt whether Henry's intentions were hostile or peace- 
able, Gregory withdrew to the castle of Canossa to await Canossa. 
developments. Henry soon informed him through friends 
that he had come to make peace and to receive absolution. 
The pope refused to receive him and demanded that he re- 
turn to Germany and present himself at Augsburg accord- 
ing to the agreement which he had made with his barons. 
After much beseeching, however, the pope yielded, ad- 
mitted Henry to his presence and removed the ban from 
him. 

Henry liad been deeply humiliated, but he had accom- Henry 
plished his purpose ; he had been freed from the ban of Gregory 
excommunication and had thereby deprived his rebellious 
subjects of all show of legality ; and he had robbed Greg- 
ory of the best part of his victory by preventing his coming 
to Germany to preside over the national assembly. Greg- 
ory had, on the other hand, shown his power by keeping 
an emperor standing as a penitent at his door. The em- 
peror never wholly recovered from this humiliation, but 
the pope had in reality overshot the mark. The people 
thought him too .severe and unforgiving. Although the 
world regarded the immediate victory as Gregory's, it was 
really Henry's, for from this time Henry's power in- 
creased and Gregory's diminished. 

It soon became apparent that Henry had been insincere 
in his confession and promises. He had plotted against 
Gregory even on the way to Canossa, and as soon as he 
reached Germany he began to plan for his self-defence. 
His enemies, principally Saxons and Suabians, continued 
their opposition to him. The war dragged on for years, 



142 The Mcdiccval Period 

during which time the pope deserted him and put him 
under the ban, and two anti-kings were set up against him. 
By the greatest good fortune, however, Henry was event- 
ually victorious in Germany. He then set up an anti- 
pope and invaded Italy in order to depose Gregory. After 
three years of fighting he took Rome, had himself and his 
wife crowned, and besieged Gregory in the Castle San 
Gregory Angelo. Gregory, in the meanwhile, had summoned his 

froiii Rome ^^'^^^if^^^ subject, Robert Guiscard, who now appeared with 
Dies, 1085. a large force, drove off Henry, rescued the pope and gave 
Rome over to his Norman troops to be pillaged. The 
people were so angry at this outrage that Gregory did not 
dare remain longer in the city. He withdrew with his 
Normans to the south, where he died, in 1085, in Salerno. 
Gregory had made great claims without being able fully 
to realize them. He had made concessions to William the 
Conqueror, and to Philip I., of France, who both still pos- 
sessed the right of investiture. Henry IV. had, in many 
The work of respects, held his own against him. Gregory's legates in 
Gregory Spain were abused ; he himself died in exile. But he had 

established the custom of sending papal legates to all parts 
of Europe ; he had put his own authority above that of a 
council ; he had destroyed the independence of the bishops 
by giving to all the clergy the free right of appeal to the 
pope ; he had made the celibacy of the clergy the rule of 
the Church, and he had freed the papacy from all lay in- 
terference, whether imperial or Roman, by establishing the 
College of Cardinals. In a word, he had formulated the 
claims of the papacy to absolute power and marked out its 
future policy. 
Urban II. Urban II. (1087-99) ^^ ^^'^^ to carry the war to a suc- 

cessful conclusion. He added Bavaria to his allies, and 
persuaded Lombardy to desert Henry. Even Henry's son, 
Conrad, was false to his father, and joining the papal party, 



Struggle bchvecn Papacy and Empire 143 

for his perfidy was made king of Lombardy. In 1094 
Urban II. celebrated his victory by making a triumphal 
journey through Italy and France. 

The last years of Henry IV. were made bitter by the re- 
volt of his second son, Henry, who made war on his father 
and compelled him to resign. But as soon as he came to 
the throne Henry V. (1106-25) broke with the papal party, 
took up his father's counsellors and policy, and renewed the 
struggle with the pope. After several attempts to make an 
agreement, the question was temporarily settled by the con- 
cordat of Worms (i 122). Its terms are as follows : The The 
emperor concedes to the pope the right to invest the clergy of'vvornfs 
with spiritual authority, which was symbolized by the ring 1122. 
and the staff; on the other hand, bishops and abbots are to 
be canonically elected in the presence of the emperor or of 
his representative, but contested elections are to be decided 
by the emperor, and the emperor is to invest the clergy 
with their lands and all their civil and judicial functions. 
The symbol of this investiture, which was the same as that 
of the counts and other laymen, was the sceptre. 

Henry V. renewed the policy of Otto the Great toward 
the barbarians on the eastern frontier by encouraging the 
missionary efforts of Otto, the bishop of Bamberg, through 
whose zeal the Slavs of Pomerania were converted and Ger- 
manized. The opposition which he met from his nobles 
led him to try to win the favor of the cities of the empire, 
which were rapidly growing strong and rich, in order to set 
them over against the nobility. He seems to have recog- 
nized in a dim way the power and importance of the citi- 
zen class, and to have endeavored to make it his ally. At 
the death of Henry V. Lothar, duke of Saxony, was elected Lothar the 

to succeed him. He owed his election to the fact that he ffil°"o 

1125-30. 

made favorable terms with the papal party and agreed to 
act in accordance with the interests of the Church. He 



144 



The Mediccval Period 



Lothar and 
Innocent II. 



Sicily be- 
comes a 
kingdom, 
1130, rec- 
ognized by 
Lothar, 

II39- 



Conrad III., 
1138-52- 



even wrote to the pope, asking him to confirm his elec- 
tion. 

In 1 130 a double papal election took place, which threat- 
ened to disrupt the papacy. One of those elected, Inno- 
cent II. (1130-43), went to France, where he won the 
support of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, then the most in- 
fluential man in Europe. Through the influence of Bernard, 
Innocent obtained the favor of the kings of both France 
and Germany, Lothar, of Germany, even going to Italy, 
and by arms establishing Innocent in Rome. As a reward. 
Innocent crowned him emperor and invested him with Tus- 
cany. By accepting this fief, Lothar became the pope's 
feudal subject. The pope evidently wished to make his 
victory over the emperor seem as great as possible, and, 
taking advantage of Lothar's yielding disposition, caused a 
picture to be painted representing the emperor kneeling at 
his feet, and receiving the imperial crown at his hands. It 
was intended that this picture should express the idea that 
the emperor was receiving the imperial crown as a fief from 
the pope. 

Roger 11. of Sicily had sold his services to the anti-pope, 
Anaclete II., on condition that he be made king. After 
Innocent had made himself master of Rome, Roger contin- 
ued his opposition, and Innocent called on Lothar to re- 
duce him. Lothar's campaign ended disastrously, how- 
ever, and the pope was compelled to make peace with 
Roger and confirm his title of king. 

At the death of Lothar Conrad of Hohenstaufen was 
elected in a very irregular way as his successor (1138-52). 
He was, however, utterly unable to rule the country. 
Although the disorder in the kingdom was growing, Con- 
rad permitted himself to be persuaded to go on a crusade. 
During his absence from the country, violence, private war, 
and political disintegration increased. He returned in 



Struggle between Papacy and Empire 145 

1 149, and added to the chaos of the period by beginning 
a war with his most powerful vassal, Henry the Lion, duke 
of Saxony. His reign ended in disaster. 

His nephew, Frederick I., known as Barbaross-a, was Frederick 
then elected king (1152-90). Since he was descended '' 5 -9 • 
from the two rival houses of Bavaria and Suabia, known 
respectively as Guelf and Ghibelline, it was hoped that he 
would put an end to the enmity and struggle between 
them. It was not the fault of Frederick that he did not do 
so. He sought to conciliate his opponents in every way. 
He restored Bavaria to Henry the Lion, favored him in other 
ways, and really left him no grounds for dissatisfaction ex- 
cept that he was not king. Frederick may be said to have 
had two policies, one as king of Germany and the other as His two 
emperor of the world. He tried to make Germany a state ^ 
by unifying the government, and repressing all violence 
and oppression. As emperor, his one ideal was to restore 
the ancient Roman empire. The great Roman emperors 
were his models. In the eleventh century there had be- 
gun a revival in the study of Roman law, and Frederick 
now pressed it into his service. He surrounded himself 
with men who were versed in the codex of Justinian, and 
from these he received the imperial ideas which he tried to 
realize in his empire. These lawyers were impressed with 
the spirit of absolutism in the Roman laws, and chose such 
maxims to lay before Frederick as would increase his feel- 
ing of sovereignty. They told him that the will of the 
prince was law, and that the emperor was absolute sover- 
eign of the world. The absolutism of Frederick was not 
the outcome of a lust for personal power, but the logical 
product of his conception of his office. 

In 1 1 54 Frederick crossed the Alps into Lombardy, and 
pitched his camp on the famous Roncaglian plain. A diet 
was announced, and the cities of Lombardy were ordered 



146 7Vic Mcdiccval Period 

to send their consuls to meet him. Most of the cities did 
so, but Milan and some of her allies refused to obey. 
There was at that time a struggle going on between the 
smaller cities and Milan, who had been acting very tyran- 
nically. Pavia appealed to Frederick against Milan and 
Tortona; and when Tortona disregarded his commands, 
he besieged and destroyed it. Milan itself was, for the 
time being, spared, since Frederick's attention was called 
to Rome. 

The people of Rome had not forgotten that their city 
had once been the mistress of the world. They were rest- 
less under all control, whether imperial or papal. They 
longed for the ancient power and independence of the city, 
and had dreams of restoring her to her former proud posi- 
tion. This was the cause of their frequent opposition to 
the popes. The papal supremacy was incompatible with 
their political ideas and aspirations. In 1143 the com- 
mon people and the inferior nobility revolted, drove out 
the pope, and restored what was considered the ancient 
government of the city. 
Arnold of Two years later the priest Arnold of Brescia came to 

Brescia, Rome, and soon became the most influential person in the 

city. He had been in France and having heard the 
theories of the great heretic Abelard, had adopted them, 
and wished to put them into practice. The revolution in 
Rome (1143) seemed to offer him the coveted opportunity, 
so filled with burning zeal he hastened thither. His pro- 
gramme was somewhat extensive. His symi)athies were 
with the common people as against the nobility. He was 
filled with the idea which had cropped out at various times 
in the Church, and was soon to become a central reforming 
principle of St. Francis, i.e., the sinfulness of property. 
He declared that the land should not be held by the rich, 
but should be common property. Everyone had the right 



Struggle bctzcecn Papacy a)id Empire 147 

to the use of a certain amount of land. Since individual 
possession is sinful, the Church, of course, should be with- 
out property. But he went a step farther, and declared 
that the individual also should live in poverty. He at- 
tacked the clergy for their crimes and worldliness. It was 
to him a mark of the deepest corruption of the clergy that 
they had so great a share in the administration of civil 
affairs. " Clergymen with property, bishops with regalia, 
and monks with possessions could not be saved." The 
Church needed a thorough reform, and the beginning 
should be made with the pope. Arnold demanded that 
the Church give up all her possessions and live in pover- 
ty, which, he said, was the law of Christ. Fired by his 
preaching the mob began to sack the monasteries. If it 
was wTong for the clergy to have property, they ought to 
be deprived of it at once ! 

In 1 1 54 Nicholas Breakspeare, the only Englishman Hadrian 
who has ever occupied the chair of St. Peter, was elected ^^'' 
pope and took the name of Hadrian IV. He boldly took 
up the struggle Avith the republican party in the city. He 
got possession of the Vatican quarter, and intrenched him- 
self there. He put the city under the interdict, and re- 
moved it only when Arnold was exiled. By losing Ar- 
nold, the city lost its best leader. 

It was at this juncture that Frederick Barbarossa came 
into Italy. The pope went to meet him, made charges 
against Arnold, and demanded his death. The republican 
party also sent an embassy to Frederick to tell him that 
the people of Rome were the source of the imperial power Frederick I. 
and were willing to make him emperor if he would take 
an oath to respect the rights of the city and her officials, 
and pay them a large sum of money. Frederick was en- 
raged at their insolence, and told them that Karl the Great 
and Otto I. had acquired the imperial title by conquest ; 



in Rome. 



148 The Mcdiccval Period 

Rome's power was a thing of the past ; her glory and au- 
thority had passed to the Germans ; it was not for a con- 
quered people to dictate terms to their master. Hadrian 
IV., however, was willing to make better terms with 
Frederick. He agreed to crown him emperor on condi- 
tion that Frederick restore him to his place in Rome and 
deliver Arnold into his power. Frederick was thereupon 
crowned, and the city was reduced to subjection. Arnold 
having been taken prisoner, was at the command of Ha- 
drian, burned at the stake f s a heretic. 

The relations between Frederick and Hadrian had not 
been altogether satisfactory. At their first meeting Fred- 
erick had refused to hold the stirrup of the pope because, 
as he said, it was not the custom for the king to do so. 
Hadrian was enraged at this, and would not give Frederick 
the kiss of peace. The quarrel was finally patched up, but 
only temporarily. The claims of pope and emperor were 
so conflicting that there could be no lasting peace between 
them. 
The Besan- The Besan^on episode showed the temper of the two 
ii"?^^'^" ^' P^'^ties and indicated the speedy outburst of the storm. 
Archbishop Eskil of Lund had been in Rome, and while 
on his return homeward through Burgundy was seized, 
robbed, beaten, and imprisoned. Although Frederick was 
informed of this, he made no attempt to set him free or to 
punish those who had committed the outrage. One reason 
for this indifference on Frederick's part was to be found in 
the fact that Frederick was angry at Eskil because he was 
sui)porting the ambition of the Scandinavian Church to 
become independent — an ambition at the bottom of which 
was, of course, national feeling. For, up to this time, the 
Church of Scandinavia had been subject to the archbishop 
of Hamburg, being regarded as a part of his diocese. 
Through this ecclesiastical influence, Frederick hoped to 



"57. 



Struggle betivecn Papacy and Empire 149 

gain political authority in Scandinavia, and so enlarge his 
empire. Eskil being thus in the way of Frederick's am- 
bitious plans could not count on his protection. Freder- 
ick also wished to show his displeasure with the treaty 
which had just been made between the pope and William 
of Sicily, in which the emperor's rights had been entirely 
disregarded. While Frederick was at Besan^on (October 
24-28, 1157) two legates appeared from the pope bearing 
a letter in which the emperor was roundly rebuked for his 
neglect to set Eskil free and punish his captors. When 
they first presented themselves before Frederick they de- 
livered the greetings of the pope and the cardinals, adding 
that the pope greeted him as a father, the cardinals, as 
brothers. This form of salutation was regarded as strange, 
but was not resented by Frederick. On the following 
day they were formally received by the emperor, and laid 
before him Hadrian's letter. After rebuking Frederick 
for his indifference, the pope confesses that he does not 
know the cause of it. Hadrian feels that he has not of- 
fended in any respect against Frederick ; on the contrary, 
he has always treated him as a dear son. Frederick should 
recall how, two years before, his mother, the Holy Roman 
Church, had received him and had treated him with the 
greatest affection, and, by gladly conferring upon him the 
imperial crown, had given him the highest dignity and 
honor. "Nor are we sorry," he continued, "that we 
fulfilled your desires in all things ; but even if your Excel- 
lence had received greater fiefs (Jfeneficid) from our hands, 
if that were possible, in consideration of the great services 
which you may render to the Church and to us, we should 
still have good grounds for rejoicing." The reading of 
the letter produced the wildest sort of scene. Never be- 
fore had the empire been thus openly called a fief of the 
papacy. The princes about Frederick angrily remonstrat- 



ISO 



The Mediceval Period 



The 

emperor's 

manifesto. 



Hadrian's 
explana- 
tion. 



ed with the legates for making such claims. To this one 
of them replied by asking, " From whom then did the 
emperor receive the empire, if not from the pope? " The 
question almost cost him his life, for the hot-blooded Otto 
von Wittelsbach rushed upon him and would have slain 
him but for the interference of the emi)eror. The legates 
were ordered to return at once to Italy, and were not per- 
mitted to proceed farther on the business of the pope. 

Whether Hadrian meant that bencficium should be un- 
derstood as fief or not, is really of small consequence. The 
important thing was that he plainly treated tlie imperial 
crown as if it were something entirely within his power to 
give or to withhold. This was little less offensive to Freder- 
ick than the word fief, because it was his belief that the 
imperial crown was attached to the German crown. The 
king of Germany had a right to the imperial crown ; the 
pope merely had the right to crown him. 

Frederick then published a manifesto to his people, re- 
counting the claims of the pope as contained in the letter, 
and in opposition to these declared that he had received 
the imperial crown from God alone through the election 
by the princes. Jesus had taught that the world was to be 
ruled by two swords, the spiritual and the temporal. Peter 
had commanded that all men should fear God and honor 
the king ; therefore, whoever said that the empire was a fief 
of the papacy was opposed to St. Peter and guilty of lying. 

Hadrian IV. then wrote an open letter to the clergy of 
Germany, expressing surprise and indignation at the turn 
affairs had taken. It was a most diplomatic letter, written 
for the purpose of winning the German clergy to his side. 
Some of them, however, were true to their emperor, and 
wrote Hadrian a letter in which they embodied the answer 
of Frederick. It was of the same tenor as his manifesto, 
and claimed that the empire was not a beneficium (fief) of 



Struggle betzvecn Papacy and Empire 151 

the pope, but that Frederick owed it to the favor {dene- 
ficium) of God. Frederick was also still angry about the 
picture which the pope had had made representing Lothar 
on his knees receiving the crown from the pope. The 
pope, he said, was trying to make an authoritative princi- 
ple, basing it simply upon a picture. Hadrian now wrote 
a letter to Frederick in which he explained that ^' bcne- 
Jiciuin " was composed of " bono " and " facio," meaning 
not "fief," but a "kind deed" or "favor." By '' con- 
tulimus,'" " we have conferred," he had meant only " I'm- 
p(?suimus," " we have placed," that is, the crown on 
Frederick's head. Hadrian succeeded in quieting Freder- 
ick, but the battle was not ended j it had been merely put 
off. 

Frederick next turned his attention to the cities of Lom- 
bardy, which for a hundred years or more had been left to 
take care of themselves. They had improved the time by 
developing an independent municipal government. Milan 
was first reduced. It was agreed, however, that the city 
should continue to elect its officials, but that the emperor 
should have the right to confirm them. Another diet was The second 
announced to be held in the Roncaglian plain, and the Rpncaglian 
cities were ordered to send their officials to it. It was 
Frederick's wish to break down the independent spirit of 
the cities. It was during his stay in Italy that Frederick 
had come into contact with the lawyers of Bologna, and 
learned from them the leading ideas of Roman law. An- 
cient customs were revived, and Frederick renewed his 
claims to the regalia (that is, to the duchies, counties, 
marches, the office of consul, the right to coin money, col- 
lect taxes, customs, duties, etc.). He declared that in the 
future all the important officers of the city would be ap- 
pointed by him and the people should approve them. 
Representatives of all the cities helped frame the rights of 



152 



The Mediccval Period 



Milan 
destroyed, 
1 1 62. 



Hadrian 
makes 
fundamental 
claims. 



Alexander 
III. 



the emperor and agreed to observe them. He then pro- 
ceeded to i)ut this agreement into force. He sent his 
representatives throughout the country to establish in every 
city his officials. The people of Milan asserted that, by 
virtue of a former compact with the emperor, the Ron- 
caglian agreement did not include them. They therefore 
resisted the emperor's messengers and closed the gates of 
the city against them. Refusing to recognize their claims, 
Frederick laid siege to the city (April, 1159), which held 
out nearly three years. In February, 1162, it could resist 
no longer. The people tried in every way to appease 
Frederick, but he remained deaf to their entreaties. The 
walls of the city were razed, the inhabitants driven out, 
and many of the nobility kept as hostages. 

In the meanwhile the quarrel had broken out afresh be- 
tween the pope and emperor. In 1159 Hadrian made 
sweeping demands of Frederick in regard to tlie possession 
of the lands of Matilda, the collection of feudal dues by 
Frederick from the papal estates, and the full sovereignty 
in Rome. The emperor, of course, refused these demands, 
and the pope prepared for the struggle. Seeking help from 
Roger of Sicily, and from the Greek emperor, he in- 
trigued with the cities of Lombardy. In 11 59 Hadrian 
died, and the cardinals thereupon elected the man who 
had acted as spokesman of Hadrian at Besangon, Roland 
Bandinelli, who assumed the name of Alexander III. He 
now took up the quarrel and spent his time endeavoring to 
find allies. Frederick, however, set up an anti-pope, and 
was so successful in his 0])position to Alexander III. that 
the pope was compelled to leave Rome and seek a refuge 
in France (1161). Frederick seemed to have won the day. 
His officials were in all the cities; Milan was destroyed 
and the pope an exile. But his very success was the cause 
of his defeat ; he had borne himself as an emperor of the 



Struggle bctzvccn Papacy and Empire 153 

old school. His absolutism was tyranny to the cities, and 
hence they were eager to find some way of avenging them- 
selves. Alexander III. put himself at the head of the op- 
position. In 1 165 he returned to Rome, excommunicated 
the emperor, and released his subjects from their oath of 
allegiance to him. Alexander was a diplomat ; he was 
hostile to the independence of the Lombard cities, but be- 
cause they could help him he sought their alliance. For 
nearly fifteen years this able man led the opposition to 
Frederick, and the final victory over the emperor was due 
in a large measure to his ability and efforts. The next 
year (1166) Frederick went again into Italy with a large 
force to punish the rebels and to put the new anti-pope, 
Paschalis, in the chair of St. Peter. After a siege he took 
Rome. Paschalis was established as pope and a few days 
later recrowned Frederick and his wife in St. Peter's. A 
pest broke out shortly afterward and Frederick, alarmed at 
the great mortality among his troops, hastened back to 
Germany. As fast as he retreated the cities behind him 
revolted ; he barely escaped with his life. The cities now 
entered into the famous Lombard League (1167). Milan, The 
rebuilt by the aid of them all, assumed the leading position 
in the league. Pavia still remained true to the emperor, 1167T 
and to keep it in check, the league founded a new city on 
the border of its territory and named it Alexandria in honor 
of the pope. It was not till 11 74 that Frederick was in a 
position to reenter Italy. Then the emperor himself laid 
siege to Alexandria while some of his troops overran Tus- 
cany and Umbria. Alexandria was very strong and the 
siege lasted for months. Overtures of peace were made, 
and, as winter was approaching, Frederick withdrew to 
Pavia. Again and again he called on the German princes 
to come to his assistance, but Henry the Lion thought it 
an excellent opportunity to humble the emperor and re- 



Lombard 
League, 



154 The Mcdiccval Period 

Legnano, fused to assist him. In May, 1176, the troops of the 
^^7^* league attacked Frederick at Legnano, and won a decisive 

victory. It was even thought for awhile that the emperor 
had lost his life in the battle. Frederick realized the situa- 
tion ; he had been beaten ; he was therefore ready to 
make peace on the cities' terms. He met Alexander III. 
in St. Mark's at Venice (1177), fell at his feet, confessed 
his wrong deeds and begged the pope to remove the ban 
from him. The pope yielded, and a truce was declared. 
Six years later, at Constance, the treaty of peace was 
The Treaty signed which granted the cities substantially all that they 

of Con- ]^^^ demanded. The over-lordship of the emperor was 

stance, 1 183. j , • , 

recognized, but it was merely nominal, and the nidepen- 

dence of the cities was practically admitted. It was a 

bitter humiliation for Frederick, but he could not escape 

it. Being pressed in Germany by the Guelf family he 

needed the support of the pope, and there was nothing for 

him to do except to abide by the decision dictated by the 

outcome of the war. 

A crisis was reached in the struggle between the Ghibel- 
line and the Guelf families in 1176, when Henry the Lion 
refused to hel^) Frederick in his war against the Lombard 
League. After returning to Germany, Frederick proceeded 
to punish him. He cited Henry to appear before him, and 
on Henry's refusal, deposed and banished him. Henry 
resisted, but was defeated in battle and begged for mercy. 
Frederick stripped him of his power, but generously per- 
mitted him to retain his private estates. 

Although Frederick had not been able to conquer Sicily, 
he i)rovided for its annexation by marrying his son, Henry 
VI., to Constance, heiress to the crown of that country. 
The pope foresaw that this marriage would greatly strengthen 
the empire, and that the emperor, by holding Sicily and 
southern Italy, could easily attack the papal lands when- 



Struggle befzveen Papacy and Empire 155 

ever he chose. Unwilling that the emperor should gain 
so great an advantage over him, the pope determined to 
prevent the proposed union of the Sicilian kingdom with 
the Empire. He accordingly renewed hostilities and en- 
gaged the archbishop of Cologne and other discontented 
German nobles in a conspiracy against Frederick. In the 
meantime the news reached the west that Jerusalem had 
fallen into the hands of the Saracens, and, according to the 
ideas of the times, its recovery was regarded as the most 
pressing business of the hour. Clement III. was willing 
to make almost any concessions if he could enlist Frederick The Cru- 
for a crusade. An agreement was made in which Freder- p^rederick I 
ick seemed to have won the victory. He was now ready 
to go on the crusade. He placed the management of af- 
fairs in Germany in the hands of Henry VI., who took the 
title of king of the Germans. Frederick set out in the 
spring of 1189, but did not reach Palestine. He died by 
drowning in one of the mountain streams of Cilicia, June 
ID, 1190. 

In Italy Alexander III. found that, although he had In Italy the 
overcome Frederick, he had not won the whole victory for jj^^jIj 
himself. He was unable to unite all Italy under his own 
authority. The cities of Lombardy and the kingdom of 
Sicily secured their own advantages and went on their way 
of independence. During the struggle with Frederick there 
had been several anti -popes established by the emperor. 
The schism thus caused was ended in 11 78 by the surren- 
der of Calixtus III., who found it impossible to sustain 
himself after the emperor had made peace with Alexander. 
To guard against disputed elections in the future, it was 
decreed in the Lateran synod of 11 79, that whoever should 
receive the votes of two-thirds of the cardinals should be 
regarded as the duly elected pope. There was nothing 
said about the emperor's right to confirm the election, nor 



156 



The Mcdiccval Period 



The high 
position of 
Alexander 
III. 



Henry VI. 
1190-97. 



was any part accorded the peo])le and clergy of Rome. 
From this time the whole matter is in the hands of the 
cardinals. 

Alexander III. deserves great credit from the papal point 
of view for the work of his pontificate. His power was 
recognized all over the west as that of no pope before him 
had been. His immediate successors were unable to main- 
tain all the advantages he had won. Before the end of the 
century Innocent III., the most imperial of all the popes, 
was to appear, and realize all that previous pontiffs had 
dreamed of; but before him there was to be another strug- 
gle in Rome. The independent spirit of the people of the 
city reas.serted itself, and Lucius III. (i 181-85) ^"d Ur- 
ban III. (1185-87) spent most of their pontificates in 
exile. Clement III. (1187-91) succeeded in regaining the 
mastery in Rome, and all power was made over to him. 
The pope had seldom been so secure in the city before. 



But a new danger was 



threatening. 



The marriage of 



Henry VI. with Constance of Sicily might, at any mo- 
ment, lead to the establishment of the imperial power in 
the south, and the addition of Sicily and all the southern 
part of Italy to the empire. The pope would then be 
between two fires. 

The first days of the reign of Henry VI. were filled with 
anxiety. Henry the Lion broke his royal word and at- 
tacked Henry VI. as soon as Frederick had set out for the 
east. The news of the death of William, king of Sicily, 
soon reached Germany, and a few days later the sad news 
of the death of Frederick was received. Henry VI. made 
peace with Henry the Lion, made provision for the gov- 
ernment in Germany during his absence, and hastened 
into Italy. He was crowned at Rome and went on to 
Sicily to secure the possession of that kingdom ; but the 
people of Sicily had elected a certain Tancred to be king, 



Struggle hctzvccn Papacy and Empire 157 



and Henry was unable to accomplish anything there. 
The outlook was indeed dark, for there were powerful ene- 
mies allied against him. The combination of Richard the 
Lion-Heart of England, the Guelf family in Germany with 
Henry the Lion at its head, and Tancred in Sicily would 
probably be able to break the power of the Hohenstaufen. 
This danger was averted by a series of fortunate occur- 
rences. Richard was taken prisoner on his way home 
from his crusade and delivered into Henry's hands. The 
son of Henry the Lion fell in love with a cousin of the 
emperor, and in order to obtain her hand, made peace 
with him. Henry the Lion, now an old man, discour- 
aged by the submission of his son to the emperor, gave up 
the struggle and retired to his estates, and Henry VL was 
able in a second campaign to get complete possession of 
Sicily. 

The fears of the pope proved to be well-founded. Li Bold plan 
fact but little sagacity was necessary to see that the impe- of^"6"^y 
rial and papal claims were so mutually conflicting that 
force alone could settle them. The emperor's opportu- 
nity seemed to have come. Relying on his strength, 
Henry VL determined to enforce his claims without any re- 
gard for the pope. He seized the lands of Matilda (Tus- 
cany), for which the pope put him under the ban ; but 
not in the least frightened by this, Henry continued his 
efforts to get possession of all Italy. He is said at this time 
to have planned the complete destruction of the papal state 
by adding it to his own territory. He also turned now to 
try his fortune in the east. He planned a crusade, the 
real object of which was first of all the conquest of Con- 
stantinople. The Greek empire was, indeed, in a chaotic 
condition, and he hoped to win its crown and establish 
himself in Constantinople, from which vantage-point he 
might easily carry on the war against the Saracens. He 



VI. 



158 



The Mcdiccval Period 



Innocent 
III., 1198- 
1216, and 
his pro- 
gramme. 



went first to Sicily in order to put down a revolt and 
punish those who were hostile to him, intending then to 
proceed against Constantinople, but died in Messina after 
a very brief illness (1197), leaving a son, Frederick II., 
only three years old. His great plans and hopes were de- 
stroyed, and the empire was thrown back into the anarchy 
caused by a contested imperial election. At the same 
time Innocent III. became pope, a man of strong will and 
great ability, full of theocratic ideas and the desire to realize 
them. 

Innocent III. (1198-1216) was probably the ablest 
pope of the Middle Age. He was a jurist, trained in the 
schools of Paris and Bologna. He looked at everything 
from the jurist's point of view, and endeavored to reduce 
to a legal form and basis all the claims of the papacy. Not 
personally ambitious, he was fully persuaded that in every- 
thing he did he acted in accordance with the best in- 
terests of the Church, and even with the plans of God. He 
was ambitious merely to make of the papacy that which he 
believed God had appointed it to be. He believed that 
the government of the world was a theocracy, and that he 
himself was the vicar of God on earth. He pushed to the 
extreme the ideas of the supremacy of the papacy over all 
rulers, and actually realized them in many respects. His 
programme may be summed up under the following heads : 

1. The pope must be absolute master in Italy, which must 
therefore be freed from the control of all foreigners ; hence 
the empire must not be allowed to unite any part of the 
peninsula to itself ; the papal state must be strengthened; 
the political factions in the city must be kept in subjection. 

2. All the states of the west must be put under the control 
of the papacy ; neither king nor emperor may be inde- 
pendent of the pope, but must submit to him in all things. 

3. The Church in the east, and the Holy Land must be re- 



and his 
ward. 



Struggle between Papacy and Empire 159 

covered from the Moslems, and the Greek Church purified 
of its heresy and reunited to the Church of the west ; all 
heretics must be destroyed ; the law and worship of the 
Church must be made to conform to papal ideas. 

The imperial claims of Henry VI. are here answered by 
the papal programme of Innocent III. It is apparent that 
their radical contradiction could permit no reconciliation. 
Neither party could get all that it demanded without the 
practical destruction of the other. For the present the con- 
flict could be postponed because of the disputed imperial 
election. But the situation was wholly in favor of Inno- 
cent and he determined to make good use of his opportu- 
nities. 

In Sicily the young king, Frederick II., was among ene- Innocent 
mies, and when his mother died. Innocent was made his 
guardian. He performed his duties toward the boy with 
great conscientiousness, supplying him with the ablest 
teachers, giving him the best education possible, caring for 
his interests in Sicily, and protecting him against his re- 
bellious subjects. 

In Germany there was a contested election, which Inno- Philip of 
cent was asked to settle. Philip of Suabia, after trying in ^(fg^'fooS 
vain to secure the election of his nephew, Frederick II., and Otto 
was himself made king by a large number of princes. The i2i*e^^^ 
Guelf family, however, elected one of their number. Otto 
IV. Innocent III. decided in favor of Otto, because, as 
he said. Otto was the proper person for the office and was 
devoted to the Church, while Philip was a persecutor of 
the Church. Philip had declared that he would defend his 
claim to all the possessions of the empire, while Otto IV. 
had taken an oath that he would not interfere with the 
papal claims, but would defend all the possessions of the 
papacy. Civil war ensued. After defeating Otto and mak- 
ing himself master of Germany, Philip was murdered 



i6o The Mediceval Period 

(1208), and Otto, being now without a rival, was recog- 
nized throughout Germany. 

Otto IV., however, now that he had secured the crown, 
changed his policy toward the pope, broke his oath, and 
demanded Sicily and Tuscany, on the ground that they 
were parts of the empire. He was successful in arms in 
southern Italy, but before the conquest was completed the 
pope had raised a revolt among the German princes and 

Frederick put forth Frederick II. as a candidate for the German 

II., 1215-50. (.j-ovvn. At the invitation of some of the German nobles, 
Frederick, although a boy, went to Germany, made an al- 
liance with Philip, king of France, and in three years made 
himself undisputed master of Germany. 

Success of Innocent III. followed out his policy with great vigor. 

^nnocen Frederick held Sicily as a fief of the papacy. In central 

Italy Innocent made a league with the cities, drove out the 
emperor's officials, and established his own in their place. 
The king of Portugal acknowledged his authority and paid 
him tribute ; the king of Aragon became his feudal sub- 
ject, and the king of Leon was compelled to yield obedi- 
ence to him. In Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Servia, and 
in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Innocent was able to 
make good his claims, at least in part. In France, Inno- 
cent interfered in the family affairs of the king, compel- 
ling him to take back his wife, whom he had divorced on 
insufficient grounds. In political matters, however, Philip 
II. resisted the demands of the pope with more or less 
success. In England Innocent comj^elled John to accept 
Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury, and then 
aided the king in his struggle against the barons. 

It seemed for awhile that the papacy would get posses- 

The east. sion of all the Christian east. Innocent III. forbade the 
fourth crusade to proceed against Constantinople, but 
when the city was taken and the Latin Church established 



Struggle betzveen Papacy and Empire i6i 

there he accepted its work. From Constantinople as a 

vantage-ground, he hoped to extend the papal authority 

over all the east, but the rapid disintegration of the 

Latin empire of Constantinople was destined to blast his 

hopes. 

During his pontificate many heresies appeared in the 

west, the most widely spread of which was that of the Al- 

bigenses. Innocent and his successor were responsible for 

the crusade which was preached against them, and carried 

out by Simon de Montfort. In 1215, at the Lateran coun- The Lat- 

cil, the inquisition was established, and it was declared ^ff-" Coun- 

. . . . cil> 1215. 

that heresy was a crime which should be punished with 

death. At the same council the doctrines of transubstan- 
tiation and auricular confession were promulgated. The 
twenty-first canon of that council declared that every Chris- 
tian must confess his sins to the priest at least once a year, 
and might receive the sacrament of the eucharist after do- 
ing so. If he did not confess, the church was to be closed 
to him, and if he should die, he should not receive Chris- 
tian burial. " From that time forth the confessional began 
to be considered as the only means of obtaining forgive- 
ness for mortal sin, which the priest, as representative of 
God, actually granted, and he alone could grant." The 
doctrine of transubstantiation, which up to that time had 
not been the universal belief of the Church, was adopted, 
and it was decreed that no one except a properly ordained 
priest could administer the sacrament. Innocent had an- 
nounced that the council would deal with two questions, the 
recovery of the Holy Land and the reform of the Church. 
Many of the canons were really reformatory in their charac- 
ter, and the work of the council dealing with all sorts or 
questions shows the deep insight and sincerity of Innocent. 
A great crusade was announced for the year 1217, and im- 
mense preparations made for it, but Innocent did not live 



1 62 The Medieval Period 

to see it. He died at Perugia while busily engaged in pre- 
paring for the crusade. 
The charac- On the surface his pontificate seems to have been a suc- 
oaoacv cess. He had apparently won a victory in every case over 

changed. the temporal powers. But he had alienated the affections 

of the people. The cruelty of the crusade against the Al- 
bigenses turned the whole of southern France against him. 
His victory over John of England, and the support he gave 
him in his struggle against his people, filled the Englisli 
with hatred of him. In Germany the same results were 
reached. The troubadours charged their songs with fear- 
ful arraignments, and Walther von der Vogelweide lashed 
the papacy for its worldliness, its greed of money, and its 
ambitions. Innocent gave the fullest expression to the po- 
litical claims of the papacy, and did much to realize them. 
Under his guidance some of the most important doctrines., 
rites, and practices of the Church were established. The 
formation of the code of canon law, while not begun by 
him, was thoroughly in accordance with his ideas, and it 
gave a legal form and basis to what he had claimed. It 
would not be too much to say that he was the last great 
maker of the papacy. His programme was carried through 
with the appearance of remarkable success, but his best 
weapon, the interdict, was almost worn out by its too fre- 
(juent use. The forces were at work which were soon to 
undo all that he had done. The papacy lost in spiritual 
power under him because he made politics the principal 
matter. Earnest Christian pilgrims and visitors at Rome 
were shocked to hear nothing about spiritual matters, but 
to find the mouths of all the clergy incessantly filled with 
talk about temporal affairs. 

The greatest of the popes was followed by the greatest of 
the emperors. In 12 12 Frederick had set bravely out to 
take Germany from Otto IV. He renewed the alliance with 



Struggle hctzvccn Papacy and Empire 163 

Philip of France, and the German princes of the Rhine 

valley received him with favor. Seeing the danger, Otto 

IV. called on his allies for help. John of England sent an 

army to the continent to unite with the count of Flanders, 

the duke of Brabant, and other nobles in the north of 

France against the French king. The decisive battle was 

fought near Bouvines, in July, 12 14, and resulted in the Bouvines, 

complete victory of Philip II. Since his allies were thus ■'^^4- 

disposed of, Otto IV. was compelled to yield to Frederick. 

He withdrew to his lands, and died at Harzburg (12 18). 

Frederick was crowned at Aachen in 1215, proclaimed a 

universal peace in Germany, and took a vow to go on the 

crusade which Innocent III. was planning. His next step 

was to secure the imperial crown. But Innocent was afraid Frederick 

of his growing power, although Frederick had been most ^ ^ 
° o 1 ' o papacy. 

respectful to him in all things. He feared that if Freder- 
ick should hold both Germany and Sicily, the two would 
be joined together and Frederick would try to control all 
Italy. He therefore persuaded Frederick to promise that 
as soon as he should receive the imperial crown he would 
resign the crown of Sicily to his young son, Henry, who 
should hold it as a fief from the pope. Death prevented 
Innocent from crowning Frederick, but Innocent's succes- 
sor, Honorius III., performed the act. Frederick, however, 
in spite of his promise, retained the title of king of Sicily, 
a breach of faith to which Honorius III. paid no attention, 
because he was desirous that the crusade should be made, 
and he wished Frederick to join it. Frederick, however, 
always found excuses, and put off his departure. He 
married lolanthe, the daughter of the king of Jerusalem, 
and without any regard for the rights of her father assumed 
that title himself. Gregory IX. (1227-41) demanded his 
immediate departure for Palestine. Frederick finally sailed 
(1227) from Brindisi, but returned three days later, and 



164 The Mcdicczfal Period 

excused himself on the ground that he was ill. Gregory 
would not listen to the excuse and put him under the ban. 
Frederick then made fresh preparations for the crusade, but 
the pope forbade his going until he had obtained the re- 
moval of the ban. Frederick, however, .sailed again from 
Brindisi, June, 1228. Arriving in Palestine, he saw that 
by force it would be impossible to conquer the east, yet by 
diplomacy he gained possession of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, 
Nazareth, and other places for the Christians. He crowned 

Three times himself in Jerusalem and returned home, having been three 

cated""^""*" ^^'"^ excommunicated for his disobedience to the pope. 

During his absence the pope had tried to stir up the Ger- 
mans against Frederick II. and, raising an army at his own 
expense, had attacked the emperor's territories in the south, 
achieving some success. But when Frederick returned 
(1229), the pope, taken by surprise, was unable to continue 
the war and offered to make peace. The two came together 

San Germa- at San Germano (1230), and by mutual concessions peace 

no, 1230. ^^,^g restored. 

Frederick then turned his attention to Sicily. In 1231 

he published the famous " constitutions of the kingdom of 

Sicily," by which feudalism was destroyed there, and a 

A new gov- real kingship established in its stead. Royal judges and 

ernment in (-Qurts took the place of the barons and their courts: feudal 
bicily. * ' 

dues were replaced by direct taxes, and other changes were 
made which resulted in the formation of a really modern 
state in all that concerns the machinery of government. 

During his long absence from Germany great disorder 
had arisen. He had caused his son Henry to be made king 
in Aachen (1222), and much power had been granted him. 
In 1233 Henry revolted against his fatlier, but was seized 
and carried to Italy, where he died as a prisoner (1242). In 
a great diet at Mainz (1235) Frederick forbade private war- 
fare, proclaimed the peace of the land, and ended all the 



Struggle hehveen Papacy and Empire 165 

quarrels between him and the Guelf family l)y making its 
last representative a duke and investing him with a large 
duchy, created especially for him. He was now at the 
height of his power, having Germany and Sicily wholly in 
his hands. 

The struggle between the papacy and the empire which, Frederick 
with more or less acuteness, had now been in progress for ^^* r^^^ws 
more than one hundred and fifty years, had accumulated a gle. 
great deal of bitterness on both sides. A peace had often 
been patched up between them, but the real question at 
issue had never been decided. There could not be two 
absolute rulers of the world. So long as each claimed su- 
premacy and tried to rule the other, there could be no 
lasting peace. Frederick felt that he was now strong 
enough to settle the question by force. The possession of 
Sardinia, which had lately been declared to be a fief of the 
Church, furnished a convenient pretext for renewing the 
contest. In 1238 Frederick laid claim to Sardinia as a 
part of the empire, and began to take possession of it. The 
pope protested, but in vain. Frederick persisted in his 
course, and the pope, from this time on, was implacable in 
his hatred of Frederick. The final struggle had begun. 
Gregory IX. and his successors freed the German princes 
from their oath of allegiance to Frederick, and tried to 
turn the people against him. The cities of Italy were 
arrayed against him, and help was sought from France. 
At the same time, in order that all Christians might turn 
from him with horror, Frederick was charged with all kinds 
of heresy. He was reported to have said that there had been 
three great religious impostors who had deceived the world 
— Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed ; he had reviled the 
clergy and the creed of the Church ; he had said that 
nothing is to be believed which is not acceptable to the 
reason. Heresy was proved by the fact that he associated 



i66 The Medieval Period 

with both Jews and Mohammedans, and allowed the free 
exercise of all religions in his kingdom. The emperor 
defended himself with great vigor. He had recourse to 
the Apocalypse of St. John for his figures of speech, and 
called the pope the anti-Christ, the angel that came up 
from the bottomless pit, and the rider on the red horse 
with power to destroy peace in the world. Gregory called 
a council, but Frederick captured the clergy who were on 
their way to attend it, and thus prevented its meeting. 
He overran Italy, and got possession of the territory even 
to the gates of Rome. After the death of Gregory IX. 
the cardinals were unable to elect a pope, and for nearly 
two years the chair of St. Peter was vacant. Frederick 
tried in every way to compel them to elect his candidate, 
but they resisted him successfully. At last, in 1243, one 
of Frederick's friends was elected and took the title Inno- 
cent IV. (1243-54). Frederick, however, felt that the 
war must go on, because, as he said, no pope could be a 
Ghibelline. Innocent escaped to France and called a 
council at Lyon, at which the emperor was again deposed 
and put under the ban. All were forbidden to regard him 
as their king, or emperor: the princes of Germany were 
ordered to proceed to the election of another king ; Inno- 
cent said that he himself would take care of Sicily. To 
this Frederick replied, asserting that he was a good Chris- 
tian, and that he had been laboring all his life only to 
bring the clergy to live in the proper way and to lead an 
apostolic life in poverty and humility. 

Victory seemed to be almost within Frederick's grasp, 
but Innocent IV. did not think of surrendering. In the 
hope of retrieving his lost fortunes, the pope redoubled his 
energies. He appealed to France, to the cities of Italy, 
and to the Germans, and by the greatest exertions kept the 
war going. He turned it into a crusade, and offered to all 



Struggle between Papacy and Empire 167 

who would join in it the same indulgences and spiritual A Crusade 
rewards as against the Saracens. In 1246 he succeeded in ^^^'1!.^^ ^ 
having Count Henry Raspe of Thuringia elected king in 
place of Frederick. Civil war spread all over Germany. 
The Begging Friars supported the pope by stirring up the 
people against Frederick, and by collecting large sums of 
money from all quarters to be used in carrying on the 
opposition. The pope persuaded the electors to make 
William of Holland king (1247). Frederick's son, Con- 
rad IV., who, as king of the Germans, had charge of 
affairs in Germany, was unable to resist the progress of 
William, who was crowned at Aachen in 1248. Mis- 
fortunes thickened around the aging emperor. Among the 
courtiers of Frederick a conspiracy was formed, and an 
attempt was made to poison him. His son Enzio was 
taken prisoner and confined in Bologna. One by one his 
friends and supporters fell in battle. He himself was very 
ill, but he kept up his courage. His troops were victori- 
ous in Italy, and Rome was about to fall into his hands. Death of 
The struggle was far from being decided when the emperor u -^2^^ 
died (December 13, 1250). 

Frederick II. was of the Middle Age, and belonged at 
the same time to the Modern Period — a man full of con- 
trasts, not to say contradictions. He was most modern in 
that he was not controlled by religious, but wholly by 
political, motives. He was not bound by feudal ideas, but His 
actually created an absolute monarchy in Sicily. His character, 
kingdom there is regarded as the first modern state in 
Europe. He persecuted heretics in Germany, but was 
himself very free in thought, tolerating all religions in his 
kingdom of Sicily. He was not a German in character, 
but exhibited the fusion of the German, Italian, Greek, 
and Saracen elements in southern Italy. He spoke Latin, 
Italian, French, German, Greek, and Arabic. In culture 



i68 



The Mediccval Period 



Conrad IV. 
1250-54, 
and Will- 
iam of 
Holland. 



and learning he surpassed all the emperors who had pre- 
ceded him, was himself a poet, and kept himself sur- 
rounded by poets and scholars. He established the Uni- 
versity of Naples (1224). He had zoological gardens, not 
for the gratification of his curiosity alone, but also for 
scientific i)urj)oses. He belonged to the class of indepen- 
dent thinkers of which Abelard was also a member. He 
preferred to live in Sicily, because it possessed far more 
culture than Germany. He understood the question at 
issue between himself and the pope ; he knew that it was 
for the right to rule the empire independently that he was 
fighting. In the art of diplomacy he was well-trained, 
and by it won many victories. He died before the strug- 
gle was ended, but he seems to have felt that it would be 
decided against him and his family. His last years were 
made heavy by many misfortunes, but he died with 
unbroken spirit. 

With the death of Frederick H. the power of the Ho- 
henstaufen family was broken, but the fight was not given 
up. Against William of Holland Conrad IV., son of 
Frederick II., was unable to maintain himself in Germany, 
and so withdrew to Sicily, which his half-brother, Man- 
fred, had succeeded in holding for him. Conrad IV. 
offered to make terms with the pope, but all his advances 
were rejected. Innocent IV. was implacable. He had 
sworn that the hated race of the Staufen should be literally 
destroyed. Conrad and Manfred were, however, success- 
ful in arms, and in spite of all opposition had got control 
of southern Italy and Sicily, when Conrad IV. died sud- 
denly (1254), leaving his little son, whom the Italians 
call Conradino, to the care of his faithful Manfred. After 
continuing the struggle for four years, Manfred was com- 
pelled to accept the crown himself (1258), but he stipulated 
that Conradino should succeed him. 



Struggle hchvcoh Papacy and Empire 169 

The pope now turned to France for help. He offered 
the crown of Sicily to Charles of Anjou, the brother of Charles of 
King Louis IX. This Charles was bold, ambitious, and "•^°"' 
utterly unscrupulous. In 1263 the kingdom of Sicily was 
made over to him, and he began his preparations to take 
possession of it. Manfred tried to besiege Rome and to 
keep Charles from landing in Italy. He was misuccessful, 
however, and Charles entered Rome and was crowned king, 
January 6, 1266. About a month later the decisive battle 
was fought near Benevento, and when Manfred saw that he 
was betrayed by many of his troops, who, no doubt, had 
been bribed to desert to Charles during the battle, he Death of 
rushed into the thick of the fight and was slain. 1266 ^^ 

Conradino, who had spent all his life in Germany, was 
a genuine Hohenstaufen. Although a mere lad, he gal- 
lantly responded to the call of the Ghibellines of Italy, 
and with a small army came down from Suabia to meet 
Charles of Anjou. After a hard-fought battle, Charles was 
victorious. Conradino was taken prisoner and beheaded 
as a rebel in the public square of Naples. 

The long battle was over, and the victory was the pope's. The victory 
Not only was the power of the Hohenstaufen broken, the °' ^■"^ pope. 
family itself had been destroyed. There remained only 
one member of it, Enzio, the son of Frederick II., and he 
was a prisoner in Bologna, where he died, in 1272. The 
great Staufen family was no more. With it had disap- 
peared the empire of Karl the Great. Not that it was de- 
stroyed, but it now underwent a radical change. The 
government of the world was no longer the peculiar prerog- 
ative of the emperor, but of the pope. The pope had vin- 
dicated his right to the temporal as well as to the spiritual 
supremacy, and it was now possible for him to declare with 
truth that he was both pope and emperor. 

When Conrad IV. left Germany in 1251, William of 



I70 



The Mediccval Period 



The great 
interreg- 
num. 



Feudal prin- 
cipalities of 
Germany. 



The eastern 
frontier. 



Holland remained in full possession. The pope did all he 
could to obtain William's recognition throughout Germany, 
but for some time in vain. The cities in the Rhine valley 
renewed the old league (1254), and within a year there 
were more than sixty cities bound together for mutual pro- 
tection. Eventually they recognized William, as did nearly 
all of northern Germany. But becoming engaged in a 
quarrel with the Frisians, he was killed by some Frisian 
peasants (January, 1256). Although both Richard of 
Cornwall and Alphonso of Castile, were afterward elected 
king, neither of them was able to establish himself as mas- 
ter of the country. Alphonso, indeed, never came to Ger- 
many. Richard visited the country, but never exercised 
any authority there. The period from 1254 to 1273 is 
known as the great interregnum. 

During this struggle of the Staufen with the papacy, two 
things are to be noticed : the largely increased number of 
principalities and the extension of the frontier on the east. 
Through the policy of the Hohenstaufen to diminish the 
power of the dukes by breaking their original provinces up 
into many smaller political divisions and giving these as 
fiefs to others, there had now come to be, instead of the 
five great stem-duchies, a large number of duchies, coun- 
ties, marches, bishoprics, and other principalities, all striv- 
ing for independence. The influence of subinfeudation 
may also be seen in this dissolution of the great political 
units. 

A most important change had taken place in the eastern 
boundary. Slowly the Slavs, Letts, and Magyars, who 
covered the whole eastern frontier, liad been conquered 
and were being Christianized and Germanized. The east- 
ern boundary had been carried, even beyond the Vistula on 
the Baltic, and included the valley of the Oder ; from there 
it extended in an irregular line to the Danube below Vi- 



Struggle between Papacy and Empire 171 

enna. Germany had lost Italy forever, but had indemni- 
fied herself in a measure by the conquest and assimilation 
of these barbarian lands. 

Great progress had been made in Germany in culture 
and wealth. Numerous cities were in existence, and they Cities, 
were now ready to make use of the freedom afforded them 
by the absence of a strong ruler to establish among them- 
selves their powerful independent leagues. 

The struggle between pope and emperor resulted in the Results of 
political dismemberment of both Germany and Italy. ^^ . 
While the feudal lords of Germany had got power there, 
the cities of Italy were growing in independence, and the 
French had got a good foothold in the southern part of 
the peninsula. The unhappy country seemed farther than 
ever from unity. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Henry IV. and Gregory VII. Milman, History of Latin Christianity. 

Bk. VII., Chaps. I. -III., and Bk. VIII., Chap. I., Armstrong. 
Emerton, Mediieval Europe, $i.6o, Ginn. Thatcher and Schwill, 
Europe in the Middle Age. $2.00. Scribner. Vincent, Age 0/ Hilde- 
brand. $2.00. Scribner. 

2. Bernard of Clairvaux. Milman, Bk. VIII., Chaps. IV. -VI. Biogra- 

phies of Bernard, by Storrs, Morison, Neander, Eales, and Ratisbonne. 

3. Frederick Barbarossa. Henderson, History 0/ Ccriiiany in the jSIiddle 

Ages, pp. 246-go. $2.60. Macmillan. Balzani, Chaps. II. -VIII. 
Testa, Wars of Frederick I. Against the Cotmnunes of Lombardy. 15s. 
Smith, Elder & Co. 

4. Abelard. Compayre, AbHard, and the Origin of Universities. $1.00. 

Scribner. 

5. Arnold of Brescia. Milman, Bk. X., Chaps. VI. -VII. 

6. Innocent III. Milman, Bk. IX., Chaps. I.-X. 

7. Frederick II. Milman, Bk. X., Chaps. III.-V. 



CHAPTER XI 

MONASTICISM 

LITERATURE.— See Church Histories in General Literature. 

Harnack, Moiiasticis»i : Its Ideals a>id ih Hisimy. $0.50. Scribner. 

Jessopp, Coining of the Friars. $1.25. Putnam. 

.S7. BciicdicVs Rule, translated in Henderson, Documents, pp. 274-313. 

Penn. Univ. Translations, Vol. H., iii.-iv. and vii. 

Kingsley, Hermits. 

Eckenstein, Woma>i under Monasticisvt. $4.00. Macmillan. 

Lea, History of Sacerdotal Celibacy. $4.50. Lea. 

Taunton, Englisli Black Monks of St. Benedict from the Time of St. 

Augustine to the Present. $7.50. 
Montalembert, Monks of the West. 6 vols. $15.00. Longmans. 

The philo- The philosophic basis of asceticism is the behef that 

sophic basis n-iattgr is the seat of evil, and therefore that all contact 
of asceti- 
cism, with it is contaminating. This conception of evil is 

neither Christian nor Jewish, but purely heathen. Jesus 
freely used the good things of this world, and taught that 
sin is in nothing external to man, but has its seat only in 
the heart. But his teaching was not understood by his 
followers. This belief that matter is evil had its origin in 
the teachings of certain heathen philosophers. It not only 
pervaded all philosophic thought, but in the second cen- 
tury of our era had even become the common creed of the 
masses. It had so firm a hold on them that Christianity 
was not able to dislodge it from their minds. The people 
already attached a religious value to ascetic practices and 
in their excess of religious zeal, when they became Chris- 
tian, they were naturally inclined to increase their ascetic 
observances. The peculiar form which this asceticism in 
the Church took is called monasticism. 

172 



Monasticism 173 



The decay of the empire, which set in strongly in the Conditions 
second century, and the violence consequent upon the in- '^^05^* *° 
vasions of the barbarians, robbed many persons of interest duction of 
in life. The world seemed to be growing old, and the fjft^the^'" 
end of all things approaching. The best men were filled Church. 
with despair, and longed to hide themselves away from 
the increasing confusion and desolation. After about 
175 A.D. the Church rapidly grew worldly. As Christi- 
anity became popular, large numbers entered the Church 
and became Christian in name ; but at heart and in life 
they remained heathen. The bishops were often proud 
and haughty and lived in a grand style. Those who were 
really in earnest about their salvation, unsatisfied with such 
worldliness, fled from the contamination in the Church, 
and went to live in the desert, and find the way to God 
without the aid of the Church ; her means of grace were 
for the common Christians. Those who would, could ob- 
tain, by means of asceticism and prayer, all that others re- 
ceived by means of the sacraments of the Church. There 
were to be two ways of salvation : one, through the Church Two ways 
and her means of grace ; the other, through asceticism salvation, 
and contemplation. 

The beginnings of monasticism are lost in obscurity. 
They fall very probably in the third century. The earliest 
monks were hermits. They lived alone, finding all the Hermits. 
shelter they needed in a hut, or in a cave, or in the shad- 
ow of some rock or tree. The movement beginning in 
those countries where the conditions were favorable to 
such an outdoor life, spread rapidly throughout the east. 
In order to protect themselves against impostors and other 
dangers, the hermits began to build their little huts close 
together, and probably surrounded them by a wall for pro- Semi-social 
tection. They had a common chapel, and on certain days org^-^'za- 
worshipped together and ate of a common meal. Though 



174 



The Mcdiccval Period 



Three 
vows. 



Monasti- 
cism in the 
Greek 
Church. 



they had icw rules, they elected a sort of superior who had 
the oversight of the whole colony. Gradually they came 
to live in houses, in which each monk, having his own 
room or cell, maintained a certain amount of independence. 
In this way the ascetic life was organized on a semi-social 
basis. By going into the desert, the hermit, of course, 
had given up his possessions and his family, and it soon 
came to be regarded as a matter of course that he had 
taken the vows of poverty and chastity. When they be- 
gan to live under one roof another vow was necessary — 
that of obedience or subjection to the rules and interests 
of the house. 

More and more this loosely organized cenobitic life be- 
came the common form, retaining, although the monks 
now lived together, the name of monasticism. It is this 
form of monasticism that has prevailed in the Greek 
Church, although hermits still exist there and are regarded 
as leading a more holy form of life. The monks of the 
Greek Church have really lived for the most part separated 
from the world. Occasionally they have made themselves 
felt at the court, and they have played a part in the great 
synods held during the fourth to the eighth centuries. 
Since that time monasticism in the Greek Church has had 
no history, because it has had no life. The monasticism 
of the Greek Church has helped preserve the dead forms in 
the Church, but has prevented any change except in the 
direction of enriching the ceremonies and forms of worship. 

Monks were first seen in the west about 340, when Atha- 
nasius brought two of them with him to Rome. They ex- 
cited among the Romans feelings of mingled curiosity and 
disgust. But when Augustine and Jerome gave the influ- 
ence of their pens and their example in favor of monasti- 
cism, it spread rapidly throughout Europe. The movement 
became immensely popular, and within a century and a 



Monasticism 175 



half there were hundreds of monasteries in the west, and Monasti- 

thousands of monks in them. It seemed for a time that rilH^tcTthe 

this monasticism in the west would be of the same charac- west. 

ter as that in the east, and therefore would have no history 

and play no part in the work of the Church. But the 

spirit of the west took hold of it, organized it, and made 

it one of the most effective tools in the hands of the pope 

and emperor to Christianize and civilize the barbarians 

and extend the Church and the state. The Roman spirit 

of organization, of conquest and activity, would not allow 

the original monkish ideal to prevail. The monks had, 

indeed, fled from the world, but they were to be used to 

conquer and to rule it. 

At first each monastery made its own rules of discipline ; 
each monk was allowed to do about as he pleased. There 
were several attempts made to harmonize these rules into 
one common code. Of these attempts only that of Bene- 
dict of Nursia (480-543) was destined to succeed. Bene- Benedict of 
diet, after spending several years as a monk in various ^"^_^^^' 
places went to Monte Casino, near Naples (528), and 
taking with him several of the monks who had been asso- 
ciated with him elsewhere, he founded the famous mon- 
astery of Monte Casino, for which he prepared his Rule. 
He organized the monks into a close corporation, forbidding 
any of them to leave the monastery without the consent of 
the abbot. A clear line was sharply drawn between them 
and the world. The occupations of the monks were fixed 
by him for every hour of the day and night. Periods of 
prayer and contemplation were to alternate with seasons of 
work. Strict discipline was to be enforced, and all monks 
must take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.' 

Circumstances favoring the spread of Benedict's rule, it 



'Henderson, Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, p. 274 ff., 
contains a translation of this rule. 



176 



The Mediceval Period 



Cassiodorus 
and learn- 
ing in the 
monas- 
teries. 



was gradually adopted by other monasteries. Gregory 
the Great (590-604) established it in many places in Italy, 
Sicily and England. In the seventh century it was much 
more widely used, and in the eighth, under Boniface, it 
was made the only form of monasticism in Gaul and Ger- 
many. In the next century, Benedict of Aniane helped 
give it a severer character. It became the orthodox rule 
of monasticism, and at one time governed more than forty 
thousand monastic establishments. Benedict's intention 
was not to make his monks either scholars or missionaries. 
The bishops of Rome, however, used them in missionary 
work, and that soon came to be regarded as one of the 
peculiar purposes of their existence. It was principally 
through them that Christianity spread among the barba- 
rians. Cassiodorus, the prime minister of Theodoric the 
Great, remained in public life till about 540, when he re- 
tired to a monastery which he had founded in Calabria, 
There he gave himself to literary pursuits, and likewise re- 
quired his monks to spend a certain portion of time every 
day in study. This example was imitated in other mon- 
asteries, and since it soon became apparent that a good 
deal of learning was necessary to manage the monastery's 
affairs, some of the monks in each monastery became 
scholars. In this way learning found a home in monasteries. 
The rule of St. Benedict, requiring that every monk 
should work, and the impulse toward learning which Cas- 
siodorus gave the order, prevented the monks of the west 
from becoming ignorant and useless, as were monks of the 
east. They were not permitted to withdraw from the world 
entirely, but were made u.seful members of society. The 
monks were excellent tools in the hands of the popes, for 
whose purpose of conquering the world no better man 
could be found than one who despised the world and had 
turned his back upon it. The papacy also drew them away 



Monasticism 177 



from their original ideal and gave them a still greater field 
of activity. 

The monks were not necessarily clergymen. At first they 
were all laymen, but later it came to be the custom for 
them to receive ordination. The monastic life was re- 
garded as the ideal Christian life. So prevalent was this 
idea that wherever possible the clergy of a diocese were Monks, reg- 

gathered together and compelled to live in a common house J '^^^"'^y- 
Ob 1 and secular 

according to a common rule. From this fact all such came clergy, 
to be called the " regular clergy," while those of the out- 
lying districts and villages who did not live in this way 
were called the " secular clergy." 

In the tenth century monasticism was in a Avretched state 
of decline. The rule of St. Benedict was so little regarded 
and the life in the monasteries had so degenerated, that it 
seemed as if monasticism must die out. Its first great re- 
form began in the monastery of Cluny, which was founded 
(910) in the hills a few miles west of Macon. Under the Cluny. 
headship of a series of most capable and earnest abbots, 
Cluny achieved a wide reputation for piety. With its 
growing fame the number of its monks increased until it 
was possible to send out colonies of monks to establish new 
monasteries. As the spirit of reform awoke elsewhere, 
monks from Cluny were asked to visit other monasteries 
and introduce the new rule, discipline, and ideas. In this 
way the Cluniac rule became common in Europe during 
the tenth and eleventh centuries. All the monasteries 
which used it were bound together by it, and were called a 
" congregation." The abbot of Cluny was at the head of 
this congregation, and, therefore, possessed immense power. 
The objects which this reform had in view were those The Cluniac 
which were taken up by Gregory VII. and by him made the Programme, 
programme of the papacy. The monastic rule must be 
made more rigorous and be more vigorously enforced. The 



178 



TJic Mediaeval Period 



Formation 
of orders. 



St. Francis, 



secular clergy must be made to live after this monkish rule, 
and the spiritual aristocracy thus formed by the monks and 
clergy should have complete authority over the laity in all 
religious matters. Gregory VII., indeed, went a step 
farther : to the spiritual authority over the whole world 
he added also the political authority. 

In the eleventh century, however, there was so great a 
deepening of the monastic spirit that even the rule of Cluny 
seemed to some to be too lax. This led to the formation 
of several orders, such as the Carthusians (1084), the Cis- 
tercians (1098), the Premonstrants (1120), the Carmelites 
(1156), and others which, for the most part, achieved only 
a local reputation. The tendency to form separate orders, 
and the number of those who applied to the pope for per- 
mission to establish new ones increased ; and though Inno- 
cent III. finally refused to listen to any more appeals, and 
forbade the establishment of any more orders, the prohibi- 
tion was immediately disregarded. 

St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the order which 
bears his name (Franciscans, /raZ/ry minores, friars, Minor- 
ites), was filled with the idea of the imitation of Christ 
and His apostles in their preaching, poverty, and service 
to others. "The Franciscan brother" should spend his 
life on the highway, stopping to preach and minister unto 
others whenever occasion offered ; he should work for his 
bread, if work could be found; if not, he might beg; he 
should never receive money under any circumstances, nor 
more food than was sufficient for his wants for the day ; he 
must never lay up any store in this world; he must care for 
the sick, visit those who were in prison, cheer the down- 
cast, recover the lost, and be to the world a Christ. The 
life of Jesus was to be his model in all things. During the 
period from 1209 to 1226 the order of St. Francis was 
thoroughly established and his rule developed and confirmed 



Monasticism 179 



by the pope. The order, however, soon underwent a The rule of 
change which deeply offended St. Francis — it began to gyaje/ 
amass property and build houses. 

St. Dominic, a Spaniard (1170-1221), estabhshed the St. Dominic, 
order of Preaching Brothers {Ffatres Fnsdicafores, 12 15) 
to resist the spread of heresy in the Church. They were 
to be trained in all the learning of the day and made equal 
to the task of instructing the people in the doctrines of the 
Church. In 1220 St. Dominic introduced the rule of pov- 
erty into the order, thus modelling it after the order of St. 
Francis. The two orders had much the same development, 
becoming large, rich, and powerful. St. Francis had not 
intended that his brothers should devote themselves to 
learning, but they took it up in imitation of the Domini- 
cans, and the two orders furnished all the great scholars of 
the later Middle Age. 

The dark side of monasticism has been often painted. Faults of 
There were many periods of decadence in its history. The "?°"*sti- 
piety of the monks brought them popularity and wealth ; 
wealth brought them to leisure, idleness, and profligacy. 
The principles of monasticism were opposed to the dignity 
of the family, and to the proper position of woman in so- 
ciety. The best human talent was frequently drawn into 
the monastery and, hence, lost to the state. 

Much more, indeed, might be said against the institu- 
tion, but the good which it did far outweighs the evil. 
Monasticism furnished the missionaries who Christianized The benefits 
and civilized western and northern Europe. Everv mon- of "^ons-sti- 
astery became a centre of life and learning, and hence a 
light to the surrounding country. They cleared the lands 
and brought them under cultivation. They were the farm- 
ers and taught by their example the dignity of labor in an 
age when the soldier was the world's hero. They preserved 
and transmitted much of the civilization of Rome to the 



cism. 



i8o 



The Mcdiccval Period 



Military- 
monkish 
Orders. 



The 

Knights of 
St. John. 



Knights 
Templars. 



barbarians. They were the teachers of the west. Litera- 
ture and learning found a refuge with them in times of vio- 
lence. Their monasteries were the hotels of the Middle 
Age, and they cared for the poor and the sick. They were 
the greatest builders of their time, many of the great 
churches of Europe being their work. Monasticism was 
therefore an excellent thing for the world in those days. 
But the times changed. In the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies it no longer had a great mission. Other forces and 
institutions were then at hand to carry on the work which 
it had begun. The proof of this is that in the fifteenth 
century it was dying out. The monasteries were no longer 
full, and it was impossible to keep their numbers complete. 
The old monasticism was powerless ; it was no longer adapt- 
ed to the character and needs of society. 

The Middle Age had two distinct ideals, the soldier and 
the monk. Contradictory as they may seem, it is not 
strange that they fused and produced military-monkish 
orders, which arose under the peculiar circumstances which 
prevailed in Palestine during the crusades. The Knights 
of St. John were organized (1099) for the care of the 
sick among the pilgrims and crusaders. It was not long, 
however, until the military element was added, because be- 
ing surrounded and constantly threatened by Saracens they 
had to defend themselves. In 11 19 the Knights Templars 
were established in imitation of the Knights of St. John. 
Both orders were composed of men who took all the vows 
of monks, but spent their time fighting. Because of their 
connection with the Holy Land, the two orders became 
very popular throughout the west and received immense 
gifts. 

In 1 190, during the siege of Ptolemais, a hospital was 
established for Germans, the members of which were soon 
afterward organized into a military-monkish order in imi- 



Monasticism 



i8i 



tation of the two spoken of above. They were called Ger- The Ger- 
man Knights. They tried hard to get a foothold in the ^^ ^^^ 
east, but the other orders were so much older and had been Baltic 
so much longer in the field that it was impossible. In 
1226 they were invited to come to Prussia (the territory 
east of the lower Vistula) to fight against the heathen 
Prussians. In 1202 Albert, bishop of Riga, had established 
a similar order known as the Sword Brothers, and had 
made use of them in conquering and Christianizing the 
heathen of Livonia and Esthonia. In 1237 these two or- 
ders were united, and to this union it was due that so large 
a territory east of the Vistula was Germanized and Chris- 
tianized, and added finally to Germany. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

St. Benedict. Milman, Bk. III., Chap. VI. 

Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. III., pp. 214 fT. $4.00. 
Scribner. His /?!</f in Henderson. 

St. Francis of Assisi. Sabatier, Life of Si. Francis. $2.50. Scribner. 
Vix&. 0\\^\i^nX, St. Francis of Assisi. $1.75. Macmillan. Jessopp. 

St. Dominic. Milman, Bk. IX., Chap. IX. Drane, History of St. Dom- 
inic, 3s. Burns and Oates (Roman Catholic). Jlessopp. 



CHAPTER XII 

MOHAMMED, MOHAMMEDANISM AND THE 
CRUSADES 

LITERATURE.— See General Literature. 

Momhert, Slio7t /listory of the CrusaiLs. $1.50. Appleton. 

Archer and KingsioTd, The Crusades. $1.50. Putnam. 

Gray, The ChiUreii's Crusade. $1.50. Houghton. 

Thatcher and Schwill, Europe in the Middle Age, pp. 336-434. $2.00. 
Scribner. 

Gilman, Saracens. $1.50. Putnam. 

Pears, Fall 0/ Constantinople. $1.60. Longmans. 

Archer, Crusade 0/ Richard I. $1.00. Putnam. 

Conder, Latin Kingdom 0/ Jerusalem. $2.00. New Amsterdam Book Co. 

Carlyle, Heivcs and Hero Worship. $0.40. Lecture H. is an appre- 
ciative study of Mohammed. Scribner. 

Chronicles 0/ the Crusades. $1.50. Macmillan. 

Penn. Univ. Translations. Vols. I. and III. contain material relat- 
ing to the crusades. 

Political Before the time of Mohammed the Arabs had no cen- 

A°" Kj^i°" ^"^^^ government. They were separated into independent 
tribes. In the tribe there was a kind of patriarchal gov- 
ernment, but no recognized officials entrusted with the 
enforcement of the laws and the execution of justice. 
Even in the towns there was no real government. Every- 
one maintained the right of jjrivate vengeance. Each fam- 
ily, defending itself and its interests, was bound to avenge 
any injury done to its members; consequently there were 
constant feuds among them. Until united by Mohammed, 
the Arabs can hardly be said to have had a political ex- 
istence. 

The religion of the Arabs was a crass idolatry. They 
worshipped the heavenly bodies, as well as a large number 
of spirits known as genii, ogres, and demons, all of which 

182 



Arabia. 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 183 

play a prominent part in their literature. They observed a 
holy month, in which all warfare was suspended and no 
one dared do even his worst enemy an injury. Markets 
were held during this season at the holy places, and under 
this double security commerce flourished. About the mid- 
dle of the fifth century of our era the city of Mecca was Mecca, 
founded at a place where from time immemorial there had 
been a temple, known as the Kaaba. The tribe known as 
the Koreischites had got possession of the temple, and by 
collecting there all the religious rites of Arabia, made of 
Mecca its religious and commercial capital. Christianity, 
although of a poor type, was known in Arabia ; Judaism 
also was represented there by many Jewish colonies, espe- 
cially along the western coast. 

Of Mohammed's early life very little is known. He was Mohammed, 
born in Mecca about 5 70. The death of his father, mother, 57o-o32. 
and grandfather left him to the care of his uncle. His fam- 
ily was poor, however, and Mohammed was compelled to 
perform the most menial labor. When about twenty-five 
years old he entered the service of a rich widow, whom he 
served so faithfully as to win her hand and heart. His 
marriage with her raised him from his humble position of 
poverty to one of influence. When about forty years old 
Mohammed began to preach against polytheism and idol- 
atry. The burden of all his messages to his people was 
that there was one God, who required of his followers cer- 
tain religious and humane duties, and who would in the 
next world reward or punish all men in accordance with 
their conduct in this. The Meccans generally did not take 
him seriously at first, but in the course of a kw years he 
had gathered about him a goodly number of people who 
believed in him and his divine calling. His wife and 
children, his slaves, a few of his relatives, and several poor His first 
and humble people, especially slaves, accepted him as a converts. 



1 84 The Mcdiccval Period 

prophet and attached themselves to him. During the first 
five years of his preaching he had also won over the four 
men who were to succeed him as khalifs, Abu Bekr, Omar, 
Othman, and Ali. As his following grew in numbers the 
Meccans began to oppose him bitterly, because he was at- 
tacking their idols and might thereby injure the reputation 
of the city, and also because he was establishing a society 
on a new basis. The union between him and his followers 
was not based on blood relationship, but on a common 
religious belief, which seemed to the Meccans dangerous 
and revolutionary. Their opposition soon developed into 
persecution. 

Mohammed then sent some of his followers into Abys- 
sinia, where he hoped they would be free from all oppres- 
sion. As the hostility of the Meccans toward him became 
greater, however, he saw that he also must eventually leave 
the city. He accordingly tried to make an alliance with 
some tribe to whom he might retire when he withdrew from 
Mecca. After meeting with several refusals, he fell in with 
some men from Jathrib, or, as it came to be called later, 
Medina, who were inclined to believe in his prophetic char- 
acter. The Arabs of Medina lived among Jews, from whom 
they had learned of many of the ideas which Mohammed 
Alliance was proclaiming. After Mohammed had labored two years 

If^'^j. with them, the people of Medina made an alliance with 

Medina. ' ' ' 

him, accepting his religion and agreeing to protect him. 
Mohammed then sent as many of his followers to Medina 
as could free themselves from their entanglements in Mecca, 
and he himself, with Abu Bekr, soon followed. This flight 
The Hegira, of Mohammed, called the Hegira, took place in the year 
^^^' 622, and became the basis for the Mohammedan system of 

reckoning time. 

During the first year after the flight Mohammed tried 
hard to win the Jews of Medina and the surrounding coun- 



Mohannnedanisni and the Crusades 185 

try, believing that since they were monotheists there could 

be but little difference between them and himself. Under 

Jewish influence he developed certain religious ceremonies, 

such as fasting and prayer. All the references in the Koran 

to the Jews during this period are friendly ; but before the 

first year was passed, Mohammed discovered that the Jews 

could not be persuaded to accept him. This led him to Mohammed 

turn from them and exert himself in the conversion of the xu'^"f from 

the Jews to 

Arabs. Up to this time Jerusalem had been regarded by the Arabs, 
him as the Holy City, toward which during prayer he and 
his followers had turned their faces. Now he determined 
to win the Arabs. His first step was to make Mecca which, 
although the great national centre of the Arabs, had played 
an unimportant role in his belief, the Holy City of his re- 
ligion. Mecca and the Kaaba replaced Jerusalem and the 
temple. To justify this change Mohammed made use of 
the tradition of Abraham and Ishmael, connecting them 
with the building of the Kaaba and making Abraham the 
father of the Arabs. Abraham had been made to do duty 
by both Jews and Christians, both having laid claim to 
him ; Mohammed now declared that Abraham had been 
neither Jew nor Christian, but Mohammedan. 

But Mecca was not in the hands of Mohammed, and the 
Meccans were hostile to him. For the purpose of revenge. The desire 
as well as of getting possession of the Kaaba, Mohammed be- ? ""^"^^"g^ 
gan to instil into the minds of his followers the idea that Mohammed 
war against those who had done violence to the faithful was arms^° 
justifiable. In a .short time, in order to precipitate a war, 
he sent out some of his men to attack and rob a caravan of 
the Meccans. Inflamed by the hope of booty, the people 
of Medina now joined him in an attempt to capture another 
caravan on its way to Mecca ; but its leader outwitted them. 
A thousand men had come out from Mecca to defend the 
caravan and to avenge themselves for the previous loss 



1 86 



The Mediccval Period 



The change 
wrought in 
him by 
military 
success. 



Mohammed 
not an 
impostor. 
At first a 
reformer, he 
becomes a 
politician. 



which they had sustained. Mohammed, with only three 
hundred men, met the thousand Meccans at Badr, and after 
kilHng about seventy of them, put the rest to flight. Much 
booty was taken, which Mohammed judiciously distributed 
among those who had fought for him. This military suc- 
cess of Mohammed quite turned him from the propagation 
of his faith in a peaceable way to the use of the sword. It 
soon became his settled policy to compel the Arabians to 
accept him and his religion. During the rest of his life he 
suffered but few reverses ; before his death all Arabia ac- 
knowledged him, and his followers were prepared to carry 
his faith by force into all lands. 

Mohammed's life may be divided into two periods. Dur- 
ing the first one he was a preacher of righteousness, a re- 
former. Those parts of the Koran delivered during this 
period are religious and poetical. He felt religious truth so 
directly that he believed that God was speaking to him. It 
is difficult to believe that during this period Mohammed was 
an impostor, or that he consciously used fraud. But after 
the flight he was moved by considerations that were not 
wholly religious. It was his desire for revenge that led him 
to attack Mecca. He felt that he was establishing a new 
religion and a new state. As his interests became political, 
he lost sight of the purer objects of his religion, resorting to 
means which seem to us very questionable, though he prob- 
ably thought that the purpose he had in view justified him 
in all he did. During the last years of his life he was lack- 
ing in inspiration. His style became dull and prolix, for 
the later chapters of the Koran are by no means equal to 
the earlier ones. 

While Mohammed had many of the faults of his age, he 
was in many respects also far ahead of it. He practised and 
permitted polygamy, and may seem to have degraded 
woman. But when it is remembered that polygamy was 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 187 

practised among his people long before his time, and that 
in other ways he did much to raise woman to a higher 
plane, we must judge him leniently. A proper estimate of 
his character can be formed only after a careful study of 
his times and a knowledge of him in all the relations of his 
life. Many of his most serious faults were due either to 
his conception of the prophetic office, or to the character 
of his times or people. His character was full of contrasts. His 
Noeldeke compares him in this respect with King David, character, 
in whom vindictiveness, cruelty, and deceit were joined 
with the most noble qualities. Mohammed was simple and 
modest and free from luxury in food, dress, and surround- 
ings. Even in the days of his greatest success he lived in 
the plainest fashion, mending his own clothes, and attend- 
ing to his own wants. He needed no slaves, and conse- 
quently liberated most of the captives who fell to him in 
the distribution of spoil. Mild, gentle, forgiving, and con- 
ciliatory, he was never a tyrant to his people. He asso- 
ciated freely with men of every rank. He was true in all 
his friendships and deeply grateful for any kindness shown 
him. In common with his age, he was superstitious and 
believed in the influence of good and evil spirits, and in 
the importance of dreams and all kinds of omens. 

Mohammed made the Arabs into a nation and brought His quick- 

them into history. His influence on them intellectually ^"'^S in^n- 

-' ence on the 
may be seen from the fact that for nearly three hundred Arabs. 

years the Arabs led the world in civilization. The good 
parts of his work were later destroyed by the ignorant and 
fanatical peoples from central Asia, who came down and 
acquired the political power over the Mohammedan world. 
Under their influence all the evils of Mohammed's religion 
were developed and its good destroyed. Mohammed him- Modern Mo- 
self is not responsible for the Mohammedanism of to-day ; fgnTis Turk- 
it is the creation of the Turkish peoples who adopted his ish. 



i88 



The Medicuval Period 



Divisions 
in the Mo- 
hammedan 
world. 



The Turks 
become the 
ruling pow- 
er. 



religion and have ruled it for nearly eight hundred years. 
Turkish Mohammedanism is a very different thing from 
the early Arabic Mohammedanism. 

Mohammed was a religious genius. It may be objected 
that he produced nothing new and that he was indebted 
to the Jews and Christians for nearly all his ideas. While 
that is true, he nevertheless felt, as no one else had for sev- 
eral centuries, the power of these ideas. He saw and felt 
a great religious truth in a direct way. His originality 
consisted not so much in new knowledge as in the vigor, 
directness, and certainty of his religious perceptions. 
Others might have learned the same things from the Jews 
and Christians, but Mohammed alone felt their truth and 
breathed into them a new religious power. 

Mohammed died in 632, and in turn four of his earliest 
converts, Abu Bekr (632-34), Omar (634-44), Othman 
(644-55), ^"d ^^* (655-61), were elected khalif. Before 
the death of Ali, Syria, Persia, the Euphrates valley, and 
all the territory as far as the Oxus river and the confines 
of India and Egypt, with a part of north Africa, were con- 
quered and converted to the faith of Mohammed. But 
dissensions arose, and Othman and Ali were both mur- 
dered. A relative of Othman made himself khalif and es- 
tablished himself in Damascus (661) instead of Medina. 
He and his family, known as the Ommeiades, ruled in Da- 
mascus till, in 750, the Abbassides, the descendants of an 
uncle of Mohammed, usurped the khalifate and removed 
its seat to Bagdad. This change of capital was a mistake, 
because from that city it was impossible to rule the whole 
Mohammedan world. Egypt and Spain revolted and set 
up rival khalifs. In the eleventh century the Seldjuk 
Turks came down from central Asia and made themselves 
master of all the Mohammedan parts of Asia. In 1058 
their leader, Togrul Beg, went to Bagdad, received all the 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 189 

temporal authority of the khahf, and became sultan of the 
Mohammedan world. The khalif became merely a relig- 
ious officer ; the political authority rested in the hands of 
Togrul Beg and his successors. The changed khalifate 
continued till 1258, when the son of the great conqueror^ 
Ghengis Khan, put to death the last khalifat Bagdad. 

In 750, when the Ommeiad dynasty was destroyed, one The khali- 

13.^6 01 

member of the family escaped and made his way to Spain, soain 
where, received with honor, he was recognized as the lord 
of the country. With the name of emir or sultan, he and 
his descendants ruled in Spain till 929, when they assumed 
the title of khalif. Under this family the Mohammedan 
power in Spain was well united and enjoyed a season of 
great prosperity. In 1031, however, a revolution put an 
end to the khalifate, breaking it into a large number of 
small principalities, and the Christians, pressing in on all 
sides, reconquered some of their territory. 

After the fall of the Ommeiades Africa suffered a long Africa. 
period of violence and discord ; but in the tenth century a 
pretended descendant of Fatima, a daughter of Mohammed, 
got possession of it. His descendants founded Cairo (969) 
and made it the seat of their government. They controlled The khali- 
nearly all the islands of the western Mediterranean and Cairo. 
held several posts in Italy and France. By constant wars, 
however, their power was broken, and in 1171 Saladin, 
the ruler of Avestern Asia, conquered Egypt and made an 
end of the khalifate of Cairo. 

During the five centuries following Mohammed's death 
there was produced among his followers a civilization far The Arabic 
in advance of anything in Europe. The basis for it all 
they received from Persia and Greece, but they added 
much to the stock thus obtained. In the administration of 
the government the Mohammedans had an excellent sys- 
tem, which was pretty thoroughly unified. Their system 



190 



The Mcdiccval Period 



Learning. 



Mathemat- 
ics. 



of taxation was good. They restored the old Roman roads 
and built new ones, thus binding all parts of the empire to- 
gether, and they constructed canals and aqueducts. A 
postal system was in operation among them. They devel- 
oped a style of architecture, which was characterized by 
the round and horseshoe arch, the dome, the tall and 
graceful minaret, and the richness of its interior oramenta- 
tion. In everything connected with their buildings they 
showed the most exquisite taste and appreciation of beauty, 
and their architectural remains are still the wonder and 
envy of the world. 

They established universities, which excelled all those of 
Europe for several centuries. The mosques were generally 
the seats of universities or learned societies, and were the 
places where all sorts of questions were freely discussed. 
Among the famous universities were those of Bagdad, Cairo, 
and Cordova. The university of Cairo, which still exists 
in the mosque El Azhar, had as many as twelve thousand 
students. Libraries were formed, some of which are said 
to have contained several hundred thousand volumes. The 
universities, especially in Spain, were visited by Christian 
students, who thus acquired the Mohammedan learning and 
culture and carried them into Christian Europe. Philoso- 
phy, theology, law, rhetoric, and philology were studied 
with great zest. Dictionaries were compiled, and com- 
mentaries on the Koran written. The Mohammedans 
knew the works of Aristotle, and based their philosophical 
systems upon his principles of philosophy. Several works 
by them on travel and history and some biographies are 
handed down to us. 

In mathematics they built on the foundations of the 
Greek mathematicians. The origin of the so-called Arabic 
numerals is obscure. Under Theodoric the Great, Boe- 
thius made use of certain signs which were in part very 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 191 

like the nine digits which we now use. One of the pupils 
of Gerbert also used signs which were still more like ours, 
but the zero was unknown till in the twelfth century, 
when it was invented by the Arab mathematician named 
Mohammed-Ibn-Mousa, who also was the first to use the 
decimal notation, and who gave the digits the value of po- 
sition. In geometry the Arabs did not add much to Eu- 
clid, but algebra is practically their creation ; also they 
developed spherical trigonometry, inventing the sine, 
tangent, and cotangent. In physics they invented the pen- 
dulum, and produced works on optics. They made prog- 
ress in the science of astronomy. They built several 
observatories and constructed many astronomical instru- 
ments which are still in use. They calculated the angle of 
the ecliptic and the precession of the equinoxes. Their 
knowledge of astronomy was undoubtedly profound. 

In medicine they made great advances over the work of Medicine 
the Greeks. They studied physiology and hygiene, and ^"^v ^"^" 
their " maferia med/ca'^ was practically the same as ours 
to-day. Many of their methods of treatment are still in 
use among us. Their surgeons understood the use of an- 
resthetics and performed some of the most difficult opera- 
tions known. At the time when in Europe the practice of 
medicine was forbidden by the Church, which expected 
cures to be effected by religious rites performed by the 
clergy, the Arabs had a real science of medicine. In 
chemistry they made a good beginning. They discovered 
many new substances and compounds, such as alcohol, po- 
tassium, nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate, and nitric 
and sulphuric acid. 

In literature, also, the Arabs labored, producing many Literature, 
works of imagination. They had a special fondness for ^g" "^^^*' 
poetry. In manufactures they outdid the world in variety Farming, 
and beauty of design and perfection of workmanship. 



192 



The Mcdicrval Period 



Commerce. 



Arabic civ- 
ilization de- 
stroyed by 
the Turks. 



They worked in all the metals — gold, silver, copper, 
bronze, iron, and steel. In textile fabrics they have never 
been surpassed. They made glass and pottery of the finest 
quality. They knew the secrets of dyeing and they manu- 
factured paper. They had many processes of dressing 
leather, and their work was famous throughout Europe. 
They made tinctures, essences, and syrui)s. They made 
sugar from the cane and grew many fine kinds of wine. 
They practised farming in a scientific way and had good 
systems of irrigation. They knew the value of fertilizers, 
and adapted their crops to the quality of the ground. 
They excelled in horticulture, knowing how to graft, and 
how to produce new varieties of fruits and flowers. They 
introduced into the west many trees and plants from the 
east, and wrote scientific treatises on farming. 

Their commerce attained great proportions. Their cara- 
vans traversed the empire from one end to the other, and 
their sails covered the seas. They held at many places 
great fairs and markets, some of which were visited by 
merchants from all parts of Europe and Asia. Their mer- 
chants had connections with China, India, and the East 
Indies, with the interior of Africa and with Russia, and 
with all the countries lying around the Baltic. 

Much of the Mohammedan civilization was destined to 
be introduced into Europe, especially by means of the cru- 
sades. In its own home, however, it suffered almost com- 
plete annihilation by the coming of the ignorant and fanat- 
ical Turks, who showed, indeed, that they could prey upon 
it, but could not assimilate and improve it ; whose fanati- 
cism led them to oppose all science, because it might be 
injurious to their religious belief; and whose hatred of 
people of other religions led them into wars, during which 
industry and commerce languished. Since the Turks were 
barbarian and without any appreciation of the necessaries as 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 193 

well as the luxuries of civilized life, they tended to destroy 
the culture which they found. Since their coming Moham- 
medanism has changed utterly, and the lands which were 
once gardens are now almost like a desert. 

The descendants of Togrul Beg continued their con- 
quests to the west till they took Asia Minor from the em- 
peror and even threatened Constantinople. In his extrem- 
ity the emperor is said to have sent messengers to the pope 
to ask aid. In 1095 Urban II. went into France, and at Urban II, 
a council at Clermont called on all the west to take up firsf cru- ^ 
arras and recover the holy places. He met with an unex- sade. 
pected response. After he had ceased speaking, thousands 
pressing around him took the vow to go on the crusade and 
received the sign, a red cross fastened to the right shoul- 
der diagonally across the breast. Urban renewed the 
prohibition of private war, put the property of all crusaders 
under the special protection of the Church, offered large 
rewards to all who would join the movement, and com- 
manded the clergy to preach the cnisade in all parts of 
France. Among the many who went out to preach the 
crusade was Peter the Hermit. The ordinary accounts Peter the 
which make Peter the originator of the crusade are en- ■"^''™"' 
tirely false. He had never been in Palestine ; had never 
seen the pope ; and had nothing to do with Urban till 
after the crusade had been announced at Clermont. By 
his preaching he got together a few thousand men and 
women — a disorderly mob without arms — and set out for 
Palestine. He led them to Constantinople and thence a 
short distance into Asia Minor, where they were cut to 
pieces by the Turks. Peter himself escaped to Constanti- 
nople, and waited for the main army to come up. 

There was no leader of the crusade and no central au- 
thority. From the north of France came Hugo of Ver- 
mandois, a brother of King Philip I. ; Stephen of Blois, 



194 The ]\Icdi(rz\il Period 

Robert of Normandy, Godfrey of Bouillon and his two 
brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, and their nephew, Bald- 
win the Younger ; from southern France, Raymond, count 
of Toulouse ; and from Italy, Boemund and his nephew, 
The leaders Tancred. Of all these only one, Boemund, had any abil- 

inefficient, j^ ^ leader: and unfortunately for the undertakinjr, it 
the army not •' -^ ° 

consoli- was impossible for him to obtain the leadership. Each one 

dated. j^j j^-^ ^^^.^ men, and was practically independent of all the 

others. It is said that the army which was thus brought 
together numbered nearly a million, but we have no means 
of forming an accurate estimate of its size. 

The crusading army was motley in its make-up. Many 
had, of course, joined the movement out of religious motives, 
Motives of hoping to have a part in the meritorious work of recon- 
the cru- quering the holy places. The pope had promised remis- 

sion of sins to all who should lose their lives while on the 
crusade, and many supernatural advantages seemed likely 
to be derived from such an undertaking. Others were 
there who had run away from their debts or from their 
families; there were even criminals, who hoped thus to 
escape punishment. Many serfs ran away from their lords, 
and from the hard conditions under which they lived. 
Many came because of the opportunity to gratify their love 
of adventure and travel. The leaders, almost without ex- 
ception, had joined in the movement principally because 
they wished to aciiuire power and establish an independent 
principality somewhere in the east, on lands to be taken 
from the Saracens or from the Greeks. The pope had the 
desire to deliver the holy places, but at tlie same time he 
wished to extend his ecclesiastical authority over the east. 
The cities of Italy, some of which joined to a certain ex- 
tent in the first crusade, were led principally by the desire 
to extend their commerce and to secure harbor privileges 
in the east. 



MohaiJiincdanisin and the Crusades 195 

Remembering his recent experiences with Robert Guis- 

card, Alexius, the emperor at Constantinople, feared the Alexius 

crusaders. He divined the purpose of the leaders and felt ^j r 

' ' grounds for 

that he was not secure from their attacks. It was quite fearing the 
natural that he should endeavor to protect his interests. *^''"^^*^^''^- 
As the leaders arrived at Constantinople he either per- 
suaded or forced them to take an oath that they would de- 
liver to him all the territory which they should conquer, 
promising them that, if they wished, they might receive it 
back as a fief. Boemund was the only one of the crusaders 
frank enough to tell the emperor what his intentions were. 
He offered his services to Alexius, plainly informing him 
that he wished to make his fortune in the east ; but the 
emperor, distrusting him, refused to give him a position of 
trust and authority. 

In 1097 the army, after crossing the Bosporus, set out 
for Nicsea. After besieging the town for several days, they Nicaea 
were about to take it when Alexius secured its surrender to *^*^^"» ^097- 
himself. The crusaders, not allowed to sack the place, 
were angry with Alexius, and accused him of acting in bad 
faith with them. Their charges were, however, without 
foundation. 

The march through Asia Minor was a difficult one; 
many perished by the way of hunger and thirst. Toward 
the end of October, 1097, the army reached Antioch, and 
began its siege. The city held out for several months, un- 
til when a great army under Kerbogha, emir of Mosul, was 
approaching for its relief, Boemund told the other leaders 
that, if they would agree to give him Antioch for his pos- Antioch 
session, he would deliver it into their hands. They finally * ^"' ^°^ * 
consented, and the following night Boemund, by the aid of 
a traitor, secured an entrance into the city. At daybreak 
the gates were opened, the crusaders rushed in, and the 
work of destruction and pillage began. The Mohamme- 



196 'The Mcdicrval Period 

dans were killed without pity and their houses looted. 
Only the citadel held out, but to this, in the wild scramble 
for spoil, the crusaders paid no attention. Three days 

Kerbogha. later Kerbogha arrived, and now the crusaders became the 
besieged. For a few days Kerbogha pushed the siege with 
great vigor. The Christians lost courage, for it seemed 
the city could not hold out against Kerbogha. But a pious 
fraud was now planned, which filled the crusaders with en- 
thusiasm and enabled them to overcome the besieging army. 
It was said that in a vision the whereabouts of the holy 
lance had been revealed to one of the crusaders, and when 
they dug in the place designated, of course they found the 
lance. Some of the crusaders knew that this was a fraud, 
but others believed in it. When the army marched out 
with this lance at its head, the army of Kerbogha was 
put to utter rout, leaving its camp in the hands of the 
Christians. 

In the meantime Baldwin, the brother of Godfrey, had 

Edessa. gone to Edessa and had, by very questionable means, made 

himself master of the city. Edessa became a most impor- 
tant outpost of the Christians. 

After the destruction of Kerbogha's army the way was 
open to Jerusalem. Boemund wished to remain in Antioch 

Ambition of until he had got the city under his control. Raymond 

Raymond of ^j- "Poulouse, envious of the good fortune of Boemund, 
Toulouse. ' ° 

coveted the city and refused to proceed to Jerusalem. 

The leaders He tried in vain in every way to gain a foothold in the 

quarrel. neighborhood of Antioch and to dispossess Boemund. At 

length the crusaders, angry at the delay, declared they 

would burn Antioch unless Raymond gave up the struggle 

and led them on to Jerusalem. Raymond yielded very 

unwillingly, and more than once stopped by the way and 

laid siege to some town. At last, worn out with waiting, 

the crusaders set fire to their tents and began a mad sort of 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 197 

race toward Jerusalem. Reaching the city, they besieged Jerusalem 
it for several weeks, and finally stormed and took it, July ^*^^"' ^°99' 
15, 1099. 

Hardly was the city taken when a quarrel arose as to 
what should be done with it. The clergy wished to make 
it an ecclesiastical state under the rule of a patriarch. The 
princes, however, would not listen to this, but could with 
difficulty find any one who wished to assume control of it. 
In the end a compromise was effected by which Godfrey of Godfrey of 
Bouillon was put over it with the title of " Protector of ^a^i p"q_ 
the Holy Grave. ' ' A few days later the crusaders left tector of the 
Jerusalem and began their journey home, and the first iqqq ^^^^1 
crusade was at an end. It had cost Europe an immense 
number of men, and had accomplished very little. Boe- Results of 
mund had possession of Antioch, Baldwin of Edessa, and g^^g 
Godfrey of Jerusalem. Alexius had also regained nearly 
all of Asia Minor. In the eyes of the west, however, the 
reconquest of the Holy Grave was by far the most impor- 
tant result of the crusade, and well worth all that it had 
cost. The returning crusaders were received with every 
mark of honor, and their stories so filled the people with 
enthusiasm that a new crusade was immediately organized. 
From 1 100 to 1102 several hundred thousand men went Crusade of 
to the east, only to be cut to pieces in Asia Minor. 

The Christian states which had been founded in the Strife 
east had a checkered history, many chapters of which were christian 
far from ideal. Lack of good political judgment, jealousy, states in 
intrigue, and treachery prevented their best development. 
They quarrelled with the emperor and with each other, and 
it often happened that Christians made alliances with 
Mohammedans against other Christians. 

The new emir of Mcsul, Zenki, ambitious to rule over 
the Mohammedan world, began a policy of conquest. In 
1 144 he took Edessa and threatened both Antioch and 



Syria. 



198 The Mcdiarzvl Period 

Jerusalem, till, in their extremity, the Christians appealed 
Zenki takes to the west for help. The fall of Edessa caused great con- 
J J., ' sternation in Europe, without, however, producing any 

immediate action. 
Europe Europe had undergone a great change since Urban II. 

^"^^ ■ had first issued the call for a crusade. Contested papal 
elections and the rule of some inefficient popes had some- 
what reduced the power and prestige of the papacy. Eu- 
rope had in the meantime been growing rich from her rap- 
idly increasing commerce, and wealth was producing a 
great change in the people. Political interests were occu- 
pying a larger place in the minds of all. Louis VI. was 
strengthening the royal power in France. Roger had made 
a kingdom out of Sicily and southern Italy. The cities of 
Lombardy were increasing in wealth, power, and inde- 
pendence. A great change, chief index of which was 
Abelard, had taken place in the thought of Europe. Here 
and there people had begun to think independently of the 
Church and her creed. Reason was awakening. The 
study of Roman law had been revived. Poets were begin- 
ning to sing songs of love and wine. Europe, slowly 
recovering from her attack of asceticism, was thinking less 
of the future world and more of the enjoyment of this. 
Arnold of Brescia was in Rome, preaching against the 
wealth of the clergy and their exercise of political author- 
ity. The high demands of Gregory VII. had been relaxed 
a little. Pope Eugene III. was himself unimportant, and 
the leadership was in the hands of Bernard of Clairvaux, 
who did not wish that the pope should have secular 
power. He thought that their spiritual authority should 
be enforced only by spiritual means. 

A second crusade under these circumstances was difficult. 
But, by his eloquence, Bernard of Clairvaux overcame all 
difficulties. Louis VII. of France was desirous of going, 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 199 

and Conrad III. of Germany yielded to Bernard's fiery 

speech and took the vow. The Germans did the Greeks 

much damage while passing through the empire, and the 

eastern emperor actually had to make war on the crusaders 

before they could be brought to their senses. The French 

army was more discreet ; but, to make the situation more 

critical, king Robert II. of Sicily was making war on the 

empire. The emperor, although in great danger from the 

crusaders, was adroit enough to keep the peace with them, 

and get them across the Bosporus. Both armies, however, Failure of 

went to pieces in Asia Minor. Hunger, thirst, the fatigue *^^ second 

of the journey, and the weapons of the Mohammedans left 1147-49. 

only a few thousand men who reached Palestine. There 

they made the mistake of besieging Damascus, whose emir 

was friendly to the Christians, instead of using all their 

efforts to break the power of Zenki,.the real enemy. The 

second crusade ended in making the condition of the 

Christians in Syria v/orse instead of better; and Europe 

was so disgusted with the failure of the great preparations, 

that for many years no further efforts were made to send 

reenforcements to the east. 

Fortunately for the Syrian Christians, Zenki died and 
his power went to pieces. But the Christians in Palestine 
learned no wisdom from their experiences. Intrigue and 
treachery increased among them. They became weaker 
and more contemptible, till, in 1187, Saladin, who had Saladin con- 
made himself master of western Asia and Egypt, was forced S j|£^ byria, 
to make war on them. He had borne with them for a 
long time, but finally, enraged at their faithlessness, he 
attacked them, and in a few weeks had taken all their 
strongholds. His capture of Jerusalem stirred the west 
profoundly and led the great rulers, the emperor, Frederick Frederick 
Barbarossa, Philip II. of France, and Richard I. of Eng- ^arbarossa. 
land to organize a crusade for its recovery. After the 



200 The Mediaval Period 

most careful and statesmanlike preparations, Frederick led 

a well-disciplined army of one hundred thousand men 

His death through Asia Minor, only to meet his death by drowning 

June 10, while crossing a swollen mountain stream, and the army, 

1 190. ° ' J i 

left without a leader, melted away. Only a few of them 

reached Syria. 
Philip II. The armies of Philip and Richard went by sea and safely 

^"j T *^ " reached their destination ; but their effectiveness was di- 
minished by the quarrel which broke out between the two 
kings. On the way Richard conquered Cyprus and made 
of it a Christian kingdom, which was to be a strong defence 
for many years against the Mohammedans. Before the 
armies had reached Syria the Christians there had made 
the mistake of attacking Acco, a strong fortress on the 
coast. Their efforts should have been to drive Saladin into 
The siege of the interior. They did not specially need Acco, since 
Acco. ^j^gy already had several good ports, and in taking it the 

third crusade wore itself out. After its capture Philip re- 
turned home, and Richard, too, after engaging in many 
chivalrous adventures without accomplishing anything for 
the good of the cause, sailed away. He was shipwrecked 
in the Adriatic, taken prisoner, and set free only on the 
payment of a heavy ransom. The third crusade was also a 
failure, for the conquest of Acco was no adequate return 
for the expenditure of means, effort, and life which had 
been made. 
Henry VI. The crusade of Henry VI. was only a part of his larger 

plan of conquest, by which he meant to make himself master 
of the Greek empire and of the east. In 1196 he sent an 
army of sixty thousand men into Syria ; but his unexpected 
death left his men without a master, and the army's disso- 
lution rapidly followed. 

The west was exhausted and discouraged. Her great 
armies had melted away in the east without accomplishing 



Mohainmcdanisin and the Crusades 201 

anything. Hundreds of thousands of men were still ready 
to take the crusader's vow, but few were wiUing to fulfil it. 
All the efforts of Innocent III. could bring together only a The fourth 
few thousand knights, who, hoping to secure the service of rgrff"^^ 
the Venetian fleet in tlieir undertaking, went to Venice, against 
Being unable to pay the whole sum demanded for trans- nonle ^" *" 
portation, they agreed to work for their passage by assisting 1202-4. 
the Venetians in reducing Zara, a pirate city on the coast 
of Dalmatia, which had been preying on the commerce of 
the Venetians. In October, 1202, Zara was reduced, and 
the crusaders demanded the fulfilment of the agreement. 
They wished to be carried to Egypt, because it seemed to 
them that it would be better to attack the Mohammedan 
power in its most important seat. But Venice, at peace 
with the Mohammedans of Egypt, enjoyed a rich com- 
merce with them. The doge of Venice, therefore, shrewdly 
turned the crusaders aside from their purpose and led them 
against Constantinople. His purpose in this was to avenge 
himself for a private grudge against that city, and also to 
secure n:iore harbor and commercial privileges in the east. 
Constantinople was at this time the leading commercial 
city of the Mediterranean ; Venice envied her her suprem- 
acy and hoped, with the help of the crusaders, to humble her. 
The crusaders themselves had little interest in the war with 
the Mohammedans. They were for the most part soldiers 
of fortune, adventurers ready for any undertaking that 
promised them a rich reward. An exiled emperor offered 
them a large sum of money if they would restore him to his 
throne, and Venice added her inducements. In spite of 
the opposition of the pope, the crusaders therefore moved 
against Constantinople and took it. They soon quarrelled 
with the emperor whom they had restored because he could 
not pay what he had promised. The quarrel led to the 
sacking of the city, the expulsion of the emperor, and the 



202 The Mediccz'al Period 

establisliment of a western man as ruler in Constantinople. 

The Latin This Latin kingdom, as it was called, existed till 1261, 

kingdom in ^yj^gj^ thg Greeks put an end to it and restored an emperor 

1204-61, of their own. The Venetians received as their share of the 

spoils, in 1204, many of the Greek islands, some parts of 

the mainland of Greece, and a large quarter, and harbor and 

commercial privileges in Constantinople. From this time 

they controlled to a great extent the eastern Mediterranean, 

and were the foremost commercial power of Europe. 

The crusades which followed this expedition against Con- 
stantinople were all unimportant in their results. The most 
The Chil- curious of them all w^as the Children's Crusade. In the 
dren's Cru- summer of 121 2 forty thousand children were brought to- 
gether in Germany and crossed the Alps into Italy. The 
number gradually melted away by deaths, desertions, or 
seizures, and only a handful of them reached Brindisi, from 
which a few of them are said to have sailed, never to be 
heard of again. The fate of the French children was even 
worse. Thirty thousand of them joined in the march tow- 
ard Marseilles, from which port probably five thousand of 
them sailed away, only to be betrayed and sold as slaves in 
the Mohammedan markets. 

In 1217 another crusade w^as attempted, which resulted 
in the capture of Damietta. The Christians, however, were 
not able to improve their opportunities, the city was soon 
taken from them, and their army destroyed. Frederick II. 
led a crusade (1228-29), ^^"^ ^^'O'"" ^^' '""'^ victories by di- 
plomacy and not by the sword. In 1239-40 another cru- 
The last sade was made, but without results. In 1244 Mohamme- 

dan Asia was overrun by a wild horde of Turks who had 
been called in by one of the political factions of the Mo- 
hammedans themselves, and who devastated the country 
west of the Euphrates and captured Jerusalem and all the 
Christian cities in southern Syria ; and from this time Jeru- 



crusades un- 
important. 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 203 

salem, lost to the Christians, was destined to remain under 
Mohammedan control. Louis IX. of France undertook to 
recover the Holy City, but after some successes in Egypt 
his army was destroyed and he returned to Europe without 
having accomplished anything. He made another crusade 
in 1270, the objective point of which was Tunis, but dur- 
ing the siege of that city he died. 

The end of the Christian power in Syria was fast ap- 
proaching. The military-monkish orders fought with 
each other, and the Venetians and other Italian states were Syria recon- 
engaged in constant feuds. The Mohammedans were car- ^he'^Moham- 
rying on the work of conquest with skill. In 1265 Caesarea medansc 
and Arsuf were taken and destroyed. The great fortress 
Safed fell the next year. In 1268 Joppa shared the same 
fate, and the whole of northern Syria was lost by the sur- 
render of Antioch in May of the same year. Thereupon 
Gregory X. had a crusade preached throughout all Europe, 
but without success. More than once divisions among the 
Mohammedans gave the remaining Christians in Syria a 
little respite, but their fate could not be avoided. Trip- 
olis was taken in 1289, and in 1291 Acco was besieged 
and after a few months of brave resistance captured. The 
Christians were thus driven out of Syria, and the whole 
country was in the hands of the Mohammedans. The 
Knights of St. John established themselves on some of the 
islands, especially Rhodes, which they held for nearly two 
hundred years. Cyprus remained a Latin kingdom until 
1489, when it was seized by Venice and made a part 01 
her territory. 

Although there were no more crusades, the idea of them 
did not die. Several popes during the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries called on Europe to arm itself against the 
Mohammedans. Several kings of France even took the 
cross and proclaimed a crusade. This was, however, done 



204 The Mediaval Period 

Why did apparently for no other purpose than to afford the king 
the crusades ^^^ opportunity to collect some extraordinary taxes. The 
reasons for the cessation of the crusades are many. In the 
first place they had all failed. Millions of lives and untold 
wealth had been squandered in the east, and nothing had 
been accomplished. The people of Europe lost faith in 
the movement. The crusading spirit was turned into other 
channels. In Spain the war was kept up with the Mo- 
hammedans. On the eastern frontiers of Germany cru- 
sades were carried on against the heathen Letts and Slavs. 
The heretics in the empire were put on the same plane as 
the infidels, and wars against them were declared to be as 
holy and deserving of the same rewards as those against 
the Mohammedans. Then, too, the national life of the 
countries was growing stronger. International struggles 
arising, all the forces of the country were needed at home. 
At the same time the religious needs of the people were 
satisfied in another way. Gethsemanes, Via Dolorosas, and 
Calvaries were constructed in the west, and these artificial 
holy places came to be regarded with almost as much rev- 
erence as were their originals. The rising sale of indul- 
gences also made it unnecessary to go on a long and danger- 
ous journey to the holy land to win religious peace. The 
life of Europe grew larger, its interests more complex, and 
the fields of its activity more numerous. There was no 
longer any surplus of energy to be spent in such far-away 
enterprises. 

That the crusades failed to accomplish what they were 
organized to do is evident. Nor are the causes of this 
failure far to seek. The crusaders themselves were much 
Causes of to blame, both while on the way and after they reached the 
failure. g^g^ T\\Qy were too lawless and moblike. They lacked 

good leaders. The princes quarrelled constantly, and their 
personal ambitions, especially those of the Normans, kept 



Mohammedanism and the Crusades 205 

them from working for the common good. The Greek 
emperors, too, followed a disastrous policy, although the 
conduct of the crusaders generally drove them to it. The 
struggle between the German emperors and the popes also 
had a baneful influence. The Italian cities come in for 
their share of the blame because they were interested so 
deeply in commerce that they often sacrificed the com- 
mon interests to their selfish ends. Finally, the difficulty 
of colonizing so large a territory and of absorbing the 
Mohammedan population was so great that it could not be 
overcome. 

The effects, both direct and indirect, of the crusades on Effect of 
Europe were great and varied. They did much to increase cades"' 
the power of the papacy, especially during the first hun- 
dred years. Urban II. was virtually at the head of Chris- 
tian Europe, and his leadership of so popular a movement 
as the first crusade confirmed him in the high place in the 
mind of the Christian world. Chivalry was perhaps in- 
evitable, but the crusades forced it to become organized 
and made of it the institution which it became. The mil- 
itary-monkish orders owed their existence wholly to the 
crusades. The conquests of the German Order among the 
heathen on the Baltic may be regarded as one of the most 
important of the indirect effects of the crusades. 

The crusades helped destroy feudalism. The barons Feudalism, 
often sold their rights, privileges, lands, and other feudal 
possessions in order to get money to go on a crusade. The 
creation of a new nobility to offset the old was also has- 
tened by the crusades. They diminished the number of 
feudal subjects of the lower class, and so created the de- 
mand for laborers which resulted in the elevation of the 
serfs into a class of free day-laborers. They also had some 
effect on the process by which the kings were increasing 
their power at the expense of the nobles. They did not 



206 The Mediccval Period 



destroy feudalism, but they did much to weaken it. Since 
they brought together large numbers of people of all coun- 
tries, they developed the consciousness of national differ- 
ences. Each nation came to hate all the others, one of 
the necessary steps, apparently, in the development of na- 
tionality. 
Commerce. On commerce the effects of the crusades were most 

marked. Shipbuilding and commerce were largely in- 
creased, because they made the carriage of pilgrims be- 
tween Europe and Asia so lucrative a business. Many 
new objects of merchandise were now introduced into 
Europe. The crusades created and supplied a large de- 
mand in the west for wines, sugar, cotton, silk, all kinds 
of textile fabrics, rugs, pottery, glass-ware, spices, med- 
icines, perfumes, coloring substances, incense, various 
kinds of oil, mastix, dates, grains, and many other things. 
It would not be too much to say that the crusades made 
Europe rich. The cities especially profited by the com- 
merce, which greatly hastened the rise of the citizen or 
middle class. The crusades gave a strong impulse to lit- 
erary activity. Many chronicles, histories, and poems were 
written about them, and the legends which grew out of 
them were innumerable. The literature of chivalry may 
be traced indirectly to the same impulse. Under their in- 
fluence the great cycles of legends about Solomon, Troy, 
and Alexander the Great arose. In 1141 the Koran was 
translated into Latin. About the same time a school was 
established in Paris to teach the eastern languages, such as 
Armenian and Arabic. 

Also Europe's fund of knowledge was generally increased. 
As regards zoology, the crusaders became acquainted with 
many animals which aroused their curiosity, and their in- 
terest resulted in the formation of zoological gardens, first 
of all in Sicily and Italy, in which strange animals were 



M ohmnmedanism and the Crusades 207 

collected. Further, some new domestic animals were in- 
troduced into Europe, such as the mule, the donkey, and 
the Arab horse. 

In botany and practical farming Europe had much to Practical 
learn from the Arabs. They taught the best methods of ^^^^^^Z- 
irrigation. The "Dutch" windmill is an Arabic inven- 
tion, used for grinding corn and drawing water in the 
east, till it was introduced into Europe by the crusaders. 
Many new plants and grains were brought to the west, and 
experiments made in their cultivation. 

In medicine and chemistry, which among the Arabs Medicine 
were closely related, the Christians learned of sirups, ju- ?'! chem- 
leps, elixirs, camphor, senna, rhubarb, and similar articles. 
Many chemical terms, such as alembic, alcohol, alkali, 
borax, and amalgam, are Arabic in origin. The Arabs' 
knowledge of mathematics and astronomy has already been 
spoken of, and the intercourse between the Christians and 
the Mohammedans facilitated the spread to the west of the 
Arabic achievements in these subjects. 

Most important of all, perhaps, was the general enlarge- The horizon 
ment of the intellectual horizon of Europe, caused by the enlar"^ed^ 
travel of the Christians in foreign lands which had a differ- 
ent, higher, and finer civilization than their own. Life in 
the west was still very rude. The houses lacked all luxu- 
ries and comforts, and most of those things which are now 
regarded as necessities. The European, whose experiences 
had been very limited indeed, entered into a new world 
when he set out on a crusade. He found new climates, 
new natural products, strange dress, houses, and customs. 
The features of the landscape and even the skies above 
him were different, and in the houses he found many new 
objects of comfort and luxury. The geographical knowl- 
edge of the west was very limited, but the crusades brought 
experience in travel and a practical knowledge of large ter- 



2o8 The Medicrval Period 

ritories, so that an active interest was aroused in the study 
of geography. A good knowledge of the Mediterranean 
and of large parts of Asia and Africa was acquired. The 
curiosity awakened by the new regions, together with the 
mercenary and commercial interests in many (jiiarters, led 
Europeans to undertake long journeys of discovery. One 
of the most famous of the travellers of the Middle Age was 
Marco Polo, who traversed central Asia, visiting all the 
peoples of that region, and finally reaching even the Pacific. 
Other travellers, only a little less famous, are Plan Carpin 
and Andrew of Longjumeau. The published accounts of 
their travels were widely read, and, while adding informa- 
tion, they increased the interest of Europe in foreign lands. 
The influence of the crusades in this direction can hardly 
be overestimated. Without them the Renaissance could 
not have been what it was. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

I. The Fourth Crusade. Pears. Gibbon, Kivuan E»iJ>in\ Chaps. LIX., 
LX., and LXI. Oman, Byzantine Empir,-, Chaps. XXII. and XXIII. 
Penn. Univ. Translations. Vol. III., i. 

a. The Children's Crusade. Gray. 

3. Marco Polo. His Voyages. $0.10. Cassell. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE GROWTH OF THE CITIES 

LITERATURE.— Zimmern, Ilansa. $1.50. Putnam. 

Gross, The Gild Merchant. 2 vols. $6.00. Clarendon. Jessopp, 
Studies of a Recluse. $1.75. Putnam. Contains an article on the 
growth of the English towns. 

Old Mf.dmcvai. Towns: Symonds and Gordon, Perugia. $1.50. 
Lynch, Toledo. $1.50. Headlam, Nuremberg, fi.50. Cook, Rouen. 
$2.00. 

The history of the cities of the Roman empire during The cities 

the first ten centuries of the Christian era is obscure. In '" ^ 

empire. 

Gaul, besides a larger number of strongholds (castra), there 
were more than one hundred cities (civitates) governed by 
the Roman municipal form of government. In the fourth 
century they were all on the road to ruin because of the 
financial oppression which they endured from the emperor. 
The control of city government during or after the 
invasion of the barbarians passed into the hands of som.e 
bishop or nobleman of the neighborhood ; or sometimes 
the control was divided — the bishop holding one part of 
the city, and the nobleman the remainder. Karl the Great Karl the 
introduced some uniformity into the government of the ^^^'^ ^"*^ 
cities by putting each one of them under an officer with of counties, 
the title of count. These counts were either churchmen 
or laymen, and were, in every case, responsiI)le to Karl 
for their government. They ruled the cities in the em- 
peror's name. But in the succeeding period, while the 
empire was being dismembered and feudalism estal)lished, 
these counts were able to assume a feudal proprietorship 

209 



210 



TJie Mediccz'al Period 



New cities 
founded. 



The inhab- 
itants of the 
cities had 
lost their 
freedom. 



Guilds. 



over the cities. Each city thus became a fief, the feudal 
possession of its count. 

The Germans, it will be remembered, generally settled 
in the country. At the time of Karl the Great by far the 
larger number of the inhabitants of Gaul and Germany still 
lived in the country. The violence of the times, and espe- 
cially the invasions of the Norsemen and Huns, compelled 
the people to live together in walled inclosures, and these 
in time became cities. Other cities sprang up around 
monasteries and castles. They were, of course, small in 
their beginnings and grew slowly. They also became 
involved in the prevalent feudal relations, and were gov- 
erned by their feudal lord. 

In accordance with the prevailing tendency of the age, 
the residents of the cities had lost their full freedom. They 
were neither wholly free nor wholly enslaved, but were 
regarded as the possession of the lord of their city. Their 
condition did not differ very materially from that of the 
serfs. They had neither personal nor political freedom, 
since they had no voice in their own government. Their 
lord collected the taxes, appointed all officials, kept order, 
punished offenders, and was, in short, himself the whole 
government. The citizens were at the mercy of their 
lords. So long as the cities remained small, and city life 
undeveloped, such a state of affairs might continue to 
exist ; but it is inconceivable that it should be tolerated 
after the cities became large, rich, and powerful. It is 
also evident that the inhabitants of tlie cities would 
strive after personal freedom and then for political liberty, 
or the right of local self-government. 

A sort of basis or starting-point for the free commune of 
later times was the guilds. People who had common in- 
terests were brought together and united into a secret or- 
ganization known as a guild. Each occupation had a sep- 



The Groivih of the Cities 



211 



arate guild, that worked at first only for its own interests ; 
but later progress was made by the union of some of the 
guilds in the support of their common interests. 

The principal causes of the communal revolt of the elev- 
enth and twelfth centuries were the revival of industry and 
commerce, and the consequent increase of wealth. It was 
the merchants who led in the movement, and the revolt 
spread along the routes of commerce and travel. During 
the tenth century efforts were made to put an end to pri- 
vate wars and to secure peace. Feudalism became more 
fixed in its customs and a certain degree of order prevailed, 
to which fact the revival of commerce is in large measure 
due. There was no revolt against the burdens imposed 
upon the cities by their lords until there grew up a rich 
merchant class, a sort of aristocracy of wealth, command- 
ing resources and means of carrying on the struggle with 
the lord, but when this class became numerous the cities 
rebelled and in the struggle that followed were able to 
secure not only personal freedom for their inhabitants 
but also in many cases the right of governing them- 
selves. 

In Italy, as we have seen, the cities were able to free 
themselves entirely from the empire and the papacy and to 
become independent republics. But in France this move- 
ment did not go to so great lengths ; not a single French 
city became an independent republic; the French cities 
did not even succeed in ridding themselves entirely of their 
feudal lords. Even the cities which secured the largest 
amount of "political liberty and the fullest freedom of self- 
government still recognized, in one way or another, the 
headship of their lords. 

When first confronted with the demands of the cities 
the lords thought only of resistance. It is only natural 
that they should have opposed anything which threatened 



Revival of 
industry 
and 
commerce. 



Order 
brings 
commerce, 
commerce 
wealth, and 
wealth the 
desire for 
liberty. 



No city 
republics in 
France. 



212 



The Mcdiccz'al Period 



Liberty 
acquired by 
force or by 
purchase. 



The first 
group, villes 
de bour- 
geoisie. 



The second 
group, 
consular 
cities. 



to diminish tlieir power and income. The refusal of the 
lord, however, was generally followed by an appeal of the 
citizens to arms ; and in this struggle the cities were nearly 
always successful. Other lords, of a more thrifty spirit, 
seeing in this movement an opportunity to replenish their 
l)urses, would sell to the cities the rights and privileges 
which they demanded. In this way many nobles were 
able to secure the money necessary to equip themselves for 
a crusade. Since the population and wealth of the cities 
rapidly increased as soon as they received their liberties, 
the income of their lords was rather increased than dimin- 
ished by the change. With an eye to their own advantage, 
the lords now acceded to the demands of the cities more 
willingly. 

The cities of France may be divided into three groups, 
according to the measure of freedom they succeeded in 
obtaining. The cities of the first group got little more 
than the personal liberty of their inhabitants and the reduc- 
tion of some of their feudal dues. They were still ruled by 
a representative of their lord and had no voice in the elec- 
tion of their officials, or in the management of their affairs. 
The cities of this group, called villes de bourgeoisie, were 
principally in Normandy and Brittany. The cities of the 
second group, for the most part in southern France, secured 
the right to manage all the affairs of the city except the 
administration of justice. The courts remained in the 
hands of their lord. Imitating the action of the Italian 
cities, they set up a consular form of government. Their 
consuls were elected either by the whole population of the 
city, or by one or more of its guilds, and were confirmed 
by the lord of the city. These consuls were responsible to 
the lord of the city for their administration, and had to 
make their reports to him. As a mark of its freedom, the 
city had its seal which was attached to all its official docu- 



The Grozvth of the Cities 213 

ments, but the lord, as a sign of his authority, kept the The seal 

keys of the city in his possession. ^^^ citv^ ° 

The third group consisted of the communes proper. 

The sovereignty of the lord was recognized in two ways; The third 

the city paid him certain taxes and tolls, and gave him in S''°"P' 

^ '■ ' b communes. 

all judicial matters the right to hear appeals. But he was 

excluded from the administration of the city's affairs and 

the officials were in no way responsible to him. At the 

head of the administration was a mayor assisted by a 

council. 

The power in the commune was not generally vested in 

the whole body of its inhabitants, though there were a few 

cities in which all inhabitants were members of the com- Limitation 

mune. It was more often the case that only the members o' commu- 

/ nal member- 

of one or more guilds exercised political rights. Ordina- ship. 

rily, therefore, the commune was not a republic, but a 
kind of oligarchy or aristocracy. As the commune devel- 
oped in wealth and power, and membership in it increased 
in value, it became more and more difficult to enter, and 
the aristocratic or oligarchic character of the ruling body 
became more pronounced. 

Although the communes had gained their liberty they 
did not know how to preserve it. Their members were in- 
variably divided into factions, and feuds and street brawls 
were common. There were also social troubles coupled with 
the political difficulties. The lower orders were often ranged Violence 
against the higher, the poor against the rich. The magis- ^ ™*^" 
trates of the cities were generally hard masters, and those ment in the 
outside the ruling guilds were unmercifully imposed upon, communes. 
This led to the formation of guilds among the workmen of 
other occupations who in the earlier time had been without 
such organizations. These, organizing themselves for op- 
position, sometimes succeeded in acquiring membership in 
the commune. Even if they failed to do this, they filled 



214 ^/'^ Mcdiccval Period 

tlie city with violence. Peace had to be restored by some- 
one from without, generally the king. Another cause of 
internal trouble was the bad administration of the finances 
of the city. The officials of the commune were often 
guilty of fraud and peculation, and it was impossible to 
bring such offenders to justice, because they refused to 
render any account of their doings to the people. They 
claimed that they had done their duty when they had made 
their reports to each other. It is not surprising, therefore, 
that the cities often became bankrupt. The expenses of 
the communes, together with large sums that were taken 
from the treasury in a fraudulent way, far exceeded the 
regular income. 

These two things, the insolvency of the communes and 
their lawlessness, were the real causes of their destruction. 
The kings of France were now steadily following the policy 
of collecting all power into their own hands, and the proc- 
ess of centralization was becoming more and more rapid. 
The king The nobles were gradually yielding to the kings, and 
and the j^|-jg communes were made the object of a policy which, in 

the end, was sure to break them down. The officials of the 
king's treasury interfered in the administration of the 
finances of the communes and punished all maladministra- 
tion by seizing the charter of the commune and declaring 
it forfeited. The judicial jurisdiction of the communes was 
limited in every way. The parlement, which exercised the 
judicial power in France, tried to destroy the local tribu- 
nals by increasing the number of cases which could be 
settled only by the king or by his tribunal. The policy of 
parlement and sovereign was to make the king's justice 
prevalent throughout the land. The central authority also 
increased the taxes of the conununes. As the king's power 
grew he interfered more and more in the affairs of the com- 
munes. He controlled their election and inspected their 



communes. 



The Groivth of the Cities 215 

magistrates ; he imposed heavy fines on all those communes 
which refused him obedience or offended him in the slight- 
est way ; he placed all kinds of burdens on them in order 
to break them down, and so when the day of reckoning 
came he had them in his power. He forced them to give 
up their charters and all that these stood for — their political 
independence and their privileges. This policy toward the 
communes may be said to date from Louis IX. (1227-70). 
Under Philip IV. (128 5- 131 4) the seizures became fre- 
quent; and by the year 1400 the communes had lost all 
their acquired liberties, sunk back into dependence on the 
crown, and disappeared. 

The processes by which the German cities acquired their 
freedom are extremely intricate and varied. Before the 
interregnum (1254-73) they had done little more than 
secure certain restrictions upon the arbitrary taxation of 
their lords, but during or after the interregnum, when the 
imperial power was practically destroyed, they were able 
to emancipate themselves rapidly and in the end to secure 
political independence. 

The cities in Germany were of two kinds: imperial cities The cities: 
(Reichsstaedte), subject to the emperor only, and seigniorial p-overnment 
cities (Landesstaedte), subject to the princes. The power 
was usually in the hands of a few wealthy and ancient 
families (patriciate). From among these the burgomaster 
and the assisting council (Rath), were elected, who together 
formed the magistracy. The increasing industrial popula- 
tion was divided into guilds (Zuenfte), which, induced by 
the consciousness of their strength, began toward the end 
of the thirteenth century to aspire to a share in the govern- 
ment. 

For the development of the cities and their commerce, 
peace and security were necessary ; and, since the empire 
was weak, they banded together for mutual protection. In 



2i6 The Medicvval Period 

1254 the cities of the lower Rhine formed a league for 
mutual protection. In 1344 the cities of southern and 
southwestern Germany made the famous Suabian League. 
The Fearing that this league would become all-powerful, the 

Leae-ife" i^rinces attacked it at Doelifingen (1388) and won a victory 

1344. over it. The cities were forbidden to form such leagues in 

the future, and the i)rinces supposed they had made an end 
of their foe. The cities, however, recovered from the blow 
and increased their power and importance. Most famous 
The Hanse. of all such leagues was the Hanse, an organization which 
included all the cities in the Baltic provinces, besides hav- 
ing its outposts in several other countries. Beginning in a 
small way in the thirteenth century, the Hanse steadily 
grew until it embraced about eighty-five cities, monopo- 
lized the trade, and practically ruled northwestern Europe. 
From 1350 to 1500 the league was at the height of its 
power. 
Decline of Its decline was caused by the changes in commerce and 

in the routes of travel and trade produced by the voyages 
of discovery : some of the Hanse towns remained true to 
Catholicism, while others, accepting the teachings of Luther, 
were drawn into the religious wars which followed the 
Reformation, and fought on opposing sides ; and as the 
governments of the various countries in which the cities 
were situated grew stronger the cities were separated from 
their foreign alliances, lost their independent character, 
and became component parts of the state to which they 
naturally belonged. 

SPECIAL TOPICS. 

1. Toledo. Lynch, Toledo. $1.50. Macmillan. 

2. Rouen. Cook, Rouen. $2.00. Macmillan. 



the Hanse. 



CHAPTER XIV 
ITALY TO THE INVASION OF CHARLES VIII. (1494) 

LITERATURE.— Sismondi, History of the Italian Republics. $.75. Harper. 
Machiavelli, History 0/ Florence. $1.00. Macmillan. Contains also 

" The Prince " and " Savonarola." 
Mrs. Oliphant, Makers of Florettce, and Makers of Venice. $2.25 each. 

Macmillan. 
Oscar Browning, Short History of Medieeval Italy. 2 vols. 5 sh. each. 
/. Guelphs and Ghihellines. i3jo-T4og. II. Age of the Condottieri. Iifog- 

IJ30. Methuen. 
^oscoe, Life of Lorenzo de Medici. $1.00. Macmillan. 
Duffy, Tuscan Republics. $1.50. Putnam. 
Wiel, Venice. $1.50. Putnam. 



Because of the different racial elements which were found 
there, the unification of Italy during the Middle Age was 
impossible. The people of the peninsula, thoroughly im- 
bued with the Roman civilization, the Greeks of the south, 
the Germans of Odovaker, the East Goths, the Lombards, 
the Saracens, and the Normans, all were there ; and each 
fought to obtain the mastery over all Italy. They had 
powerful rivals in the pope and the emperor for political 
honors, the conflict between whom gave the cities the op- 
portunity to depose the imperial officers and to establish 
a local independent government similar to that of the com- 
munes described in the preceding chapter. Frederick I. 
tried to reduce the cities to a position of dependence again, 
but the Lombard League and the pope were too strong for 
him. The battle of Legnano (1176), and the treaty of 
Constance (1183), gave the cities about all the independ- 
ence they claimed, and left the emperor little except his 

217 



Why the 
unification 
of Italy in 
the Middle 
Age was 
impossible. 



The cities 
acquire con- 
stitutions 
and 

successfully 
resist the 
emperor. 



2l8 



The Medieval Period 



Feuds 
inside and 
outside the 
cities. 



Podesta. 



Ghibelline 
and Guelf. 



The five 
powers in 
Italy : Ven- 
ice, Lom- 
bardy, Tus- 
cany, Rome, 
and Naples. 



title. After the death of Frederick II. lew emperors tried 
to wield any authority in Italy. 

Although the cities had accjuired their liberty, this was 
no guarantee for peace and order, and they were en- 
gaged in constant feuds with each other. Only members 
of the ruling guilds had a share in the government, and the 
class distinctions among the inhabitants formed a large dis- 
turbing element. The higher and the lower nobility and 
the rich merchants struggled for authority, disregarding the 
rights of the industrial classes. The pride and ambition of 
the nobles led them into feuds which filled the streets with 
violence. To put an end to this confusion the cities be- 
gan to elect dictators called podesta (about 1200). The 
lower orders of society were, at the same time, striving to 
win a share in the government. They had organized them- 
selves into guilds and now united in a commune of their 
own with a "captain of the people" (cajntan del popolo) 
at its head, as a rival of the podesta. War between the 
parties began. The privileged classes sought the aid of 
the emperor and were called Ghibelline, while the common 
l)eople joined with the pope and were called Guelf. These 
civil wars fill the thirteenth century. They ended in the 
loss of the republican constitutions, and the cities fell into 
the hands of tyrants. 

About 1300 the political condition of Italy was some- 
what as follows : In Piedmont the old feudal system was still 
in force ; several great barons, among them the counts of 
Savoy, the ancestors of the present royal house of Italy, were 
contending for supremacy. In Lombardy the cities were 
ruled by tyrants: Milan by the family of the Visconti, 
Verona by the Scaligers, Padua by the Carraresi, Mantua 
by the Gonzaghi, Ferrara by the Estensi. In Tuscany 
the cities were in the throes of civil war, but the end was 
to be the same as in Lombardy. In the states of the 



Italy to the Invasion of Charles VIII . 219 

Church the cities were about to break away from papal con- 
trol. The long residence of the popes in Avignon (1309-78) 
permitted the rise of tyrannies in Urbino, Perugia, Rimini, 
and elsewhere, while Bologna became a republic and Rome 
tried several political experiments. Naples was the seat of 
the kingdom of the Angevins, and Sicily had passed into 
the possession of the Aragonese. Genoa and Venice were 
independent republics. While the disunion at this time was 
very great, the five powers which were to divide Italy among 
themselves in the fifteenth century were showing signs of 
their coming strength. Their history maybe briefly traced 
as follows : 

Genoa and Venice owed their greatness to their com- Genoa, 
merce. For some time Pisa was a strong rival of Genoa in 
the commerce and control of the western Mediterranean, 
but in the battle of Meloria (1284), just off Pisa, the Geno- 
ese fleet was victorious and the power of Pisa was broken. 
In 1 26 1 Genoa helped the Greek emperor to regain Constan- 
tinople, and received as her reward the monopoly of the trade 
in the Black Sea. But Genoa thus came into conflict with 
Venice, which by the outcome of the fourth crusade had 
gained the ascendency in the east. The war between the 
two cities lasted more than two hundred years, and ended 
in the total defeat of the Genoese in the battle of Chioggia 
(1380). After this Genoa declined, while Venice became 
the mistress of the Mediterranean. 

Since 697 Venice had been ruled by a doge (duke) elected Venice, 
by the people. The tendency in the city, however, was 
toward an oligarchy. Toward the end of the twelfth cen- 
tury the Great Council, consisting of four hundred and 
eighty members, usurped the right to elect the doge. They 
associated with him a small council of six, and for all more 
important matters a council of sixty. In 1297 the oli- 
garchy was completed by the act known as the " Closing of 



220 The Mcdicuval Period 

the Great Council," by which this body declared itself to 
be hereditary. In order to check all popular movements 
the Great Council established the Council of Ten with un- 
limited police powers. The bloody work of this Council 
prevented all uprisings of the people and gave the govern- 
ment of the city a stability and durability which were pos- 
sessed by no other in Italy. Venice acquired not only the 
islands of the eastern Mediterranean, but also much territory 
on the mainland of the Balkan peninsula. Then she turned 
her arms toward Italy and conquered Treviso, Padua, Vi- 
cenza, and other places. But her expansion on the main- 
land of Italy during the fifteenth century brought her in 
turn into conflict with Milan. 

Milan. In Milan the Ghibelline Visconti overcame the family of 

the Guelf della Torre and entered on a vigorous policy of 
territorial extension. By the year 1350 the Visconti had 
conquered and annexed all Lombardy. Gian Galeazzo 
(1385-1402), the ablest of the family, pushed his conquests 
so far to the south that he encroached on the territory of 
Florence. The family of the Visconti died out, however, 
in 1447, and the power in Lombardy was seized by several 
condottieri, as the leaders of the mercenary bands were 
called, who had been in the service of the Visconti and of 
various cities. Every such leader now improved the oppor- 
tunity and made himself master of some city. In Milan 
the power was seized by Francesco Sforza, the most famous 
of all the condottieri. The city engaged him to lead its 
troops against the Venetians, and after securing a victory 
over them he came back to Milan and compelled the peo- 
ple to acknowledge him as their duke (1450). 

Florence. The political history of Florence in the thirteenth and 

fourteenth centuries is so confused by party struggles that we 
cannot follow it here in detail. The factions known as the 
Blacks and the Whites, the old nobility, the old guilds, the 



Italy to the Invasion of Charles VIII. 221 

new nobility of wealth, and the guilds of the lower orders, 
all fought for recognition and power and added to the 
chaos of the times. Taking advantage of these troubles 
the Medici rose to power. The Medici were a family of 
bankers that had grown rich and now used their wealth to 
advance their political aspirations. They saw that the 
power was really with the common people, and so threw 
in their lot with them. In this way the head of the fam- 
ily, although he left the constitution intact, became the 
real ruler of the city. All the officials of the city were 
named by, and were subject to, him. Lorenzo the Mag- 
nificent (1469-92) finally swept away all the old repub- 
lican offices and ruled with a Privy Council of Seventy 
of his own nomination. Under the Medici Florence 
made war on her small neighbors and became master of all 
Tuscany. 

During the residence of the popes in Avignon Rome suf- Rome. 
fered from the violent struggles between the rival factions 
of her nobility as well as from the riotous conduct of the 
people. The families of the Colonna and the Orsini filled 
the streets with brawls. An uprising of the people in 1347 
made Rienzi Tribune, with full powers to restore order. He 
drove out the turbulent nobles, but became so puffed up over 
his success that the people found him intolerable and exiled 
him. He went to Prague to appeal to the emperor, but 
was delivered to the pope, who kept him in prison for some 
time. The pope then determined to recover his power in 
Rome, and sent Rienzi back to the city as his representa- 
tive (1354). Rienzi's success in Rome was of short dura- 
tion, however, and he lost his life in an insurrection. Car- 
dinal Albornoz was then sent by the pope into Italy, and 
recovered nearly all the towns in the papal state. This led 
the pope to take up his residence in Rome again (1377), 
although a rival pope was elected, who continued the papal 



The Mediaeval Period 



court at Avignon till the schism was healed by the Council 
of Constance (141 7). The jwpes of the fifteenth century 
followed the policy of making their possession of Rome 
secure and of uniting and enlarging the papal state. 

The Angevins lost Sicily to the Aragonese, but held 

Naples. Naples till 1435, when Alphonso of Aragon made liimself 

master of soutliern Italy also. The rule of the Angevins had 
ruined the kingdom, however, and although Alphonso was 
a model prince, a patron of learning and of the arts, he 
was not able to establish his family firmly in power. His 
son Ferdinand (1458-94) succeeded him as ruler of Naples, 
but his misrule led to the revival of the Angevin claim, 
which had in the meanwhile reverted to the king of 
France. Louis XI. was too practical to be drawn into 

Charles Italian politics, but his incompetent son, Charles VIII. 

vadesTt'alv (M'^3-98)> ^^'^s induced by various considerations to in- 

1494. vade Italy. There was, first of all, his claim to Naples ; 

Milan was intriguing against the Aragonese and urged him 
therefore to come ; Savonarola was calling for a reform in 
Florence and attacking the rule of the Medici, thus open- 
ing an opportunity in Florence. In 1494 he crossed the 
Alps and began that long and disastrous period of foreign 
invasion and domination of Italy which was not ended till 
the present century. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Florence. Machiavelli, Mrs. Oliphant, Roscoe, Oscar Browning. 

2. Venice. Oliphant, Wiel. 



CHAPTER XV 



FRANCE, 1 108-1494; ENGLAND, 1070-1485 



LITERATURE.— As in Chaps. I., III., IV., V., and VI. 



The accession of Louis VI. (1108-37, called the Fat) 
marks a change in the fortunes of the Capetian House. All 
but the last years of his life were spent in passing through 
his kingdom, punishing the rebellious barons, asserting his 
royal rights, acquiring territory, and, in general, in in- 
creasing the prestige of the royal name. He was a stanch 
champion of the Church, protecting the clergy and their 
lands from the violence of the barons. He favored the 
cities, and tried to make travel safe and commerce secure. 
Suger, the able abbot of St. Denis, as his counsellor, was 
of great service to him in the difficult work which he had 
to do. Though he was unable to reduce the great vas- 
sals, he was one of the ablest of the Capetian line, and un- 
til his increasing corpulence made travel impossible, he 
spent his time and strength in the personal supervision of 
the government. He was succeeded by his son, Louis 
VIL (i 137-80), who was simple, credulous, capricious, and 
over-religious. So long as Suger lived, Louis was well 
guided, but he made the mistake of going on a crusade and 
of divorcing his wife, Eleanor, who held all of Aquitaine. 
He intrigued with the sons of Henry II. of England, but 
was unable to prevent the English from obtaining a large 
amount of French territory. 

His son, Philip H., called Augustus (1180-1223), al- 
though a politician of rare ability, was treacherous and un- 

223 



France from 
1 108 to the 
Hundred 
Years' War. 



Louis VL 
1108-37. 



Louis VH. 
1137-80. 



Philip IL, 
I 180-1223. 



224 '^^^^ Mcdiccval Period 

scrupulous. He, too, intrigued with the English princes, 
and thereby secured the possession of Normandy, Maine, 
Anjou, and other provinces. For some years he waged war 
on his other great vassals and wrung many concessions from 
them. The battle of Bouvines was quite as advantageous 
to him as to Frederick II. of Germany, for whom it was 
ostensibly fought. Philip took no personal part in the per- 
secution of the Albigenses, but the crown reaped the bene- 
fit of it by acquiring their territory. 
The royal The reign of Philip II. was of fundamental importance 

omain. ^^,. ^.j^^ growth of the royal power. The king's domain was 

more than doubled by him, and his income correspond- 
ingly increased. For the first time the king was rich. 
Philip II. found the old system of administration insuffi- 
cient. His estates had thus far been managed hy 3. prevot, 
who, in the name of the king, administered justice, collect- 
ed the taxes, and preserved order. Although these prevots 
were the king's officers, there was the tendency, in ac- 
cordance with the character of the age, for them to look 
upon their office as a fief, and hence hereditary. To keep 
them from growing quite away from him, and also to get 
the best returns from his estates, Philip II. created a new 
officer, the baillie. He was put above the prevots, several 
of whom were generally in his bailiwick. He was required 
to hold court every month for the rendering of justice and 
to make a full report of his doings to the king. He was 
especially entrusted with collecting all the money possible 
for the king and delivering it at Paris. The reign of Philip 
II. had resulted in two most important things — the great 
extension of the royal power and the better administration 
of the royal affairs. The hereditary character of the 
crown seemed so well establi.shed in his reign that he did 
not think it necessary to secure the election of his son, 
taking it for granted that the crown would pass on to him. 



France, 1108-1494; England, 10/0-148^ 225 

Although Louis VIII. (1223-26) was thirty-six years old Louis VIII., 
when his father died, he had never had any share in the ^^^3-2 • 
government or any independent income. He followed his 
father's policy in all respects, except that he gave to each 
of his sons the government and income of a certain terri- 
tory, which was called an appanage. While this made the 
position of the princes more dignified, it tended to separate 
lands from the crown at a time when everything possible 
should have been done to consolidate the royal possessions. 

For ten years after the accession of Louis IX. (1226-70), Louis IX., 
his mother, Blanche of Castile, was regent. Imperious and i2t(^to 
autocratic, she ruled with a strong hand ; and although 
conspired against by almost all the great vassals, she was 
able to add to the royal power. Under her training Louis 
became the most perfect Christian ruler of his day. Few 
men have ever taken Christianity so seriously and followed 
its dictates, even against their own interests, so closely as 
he. His religious conscience was absolute master of him. 
He refused to extend his boundaries at the expense of his 
neighbors, although many opportunities for doing so offered 
themselves. He e\en restored to England certain territories 
which he thought had been unjustly seized. He was deep- 
ly distressed by the enmity between the emperor and the 
pope, and tried to act as peacemaker between them. His 
reputation for justice made him the arbiter of Europe, and 
the Church expressed her approval of his character by de- 
claring him a saint. 

The reign of Louis IX. is important for various reasons. Reform. 
He increased the royal domain by the acquisition of several 
large provinces. Up to this time more than eighty of his 
subjects had had the right to coin money. The money 
coined in a province was the only legal tender there. Louis 
made the royal money legal tender throughout France, and 
issued stringent laws against counterfeiting. He reformed 



226 The Mediceval Period 

the office of haillie by prescribing that every baillie should 
take an oath to administer his office faithfully and justly, 
and to preserve local liberties as well as the rights of the 
king ; that he should not receive any money or gift from 
the people in his bailiwick, nor engage in any other busi- 
ness, nor have any interest in his bailiwick except to serve 
the king ; that he should not marry anyone from his dis- 
trict, nor surround himself with his relatives, nor give them 
any office under him. Every baillie was ordered to hold 
court in person, regularly, and in the appointed places, 
and to make reports to the king of all his doings ; and after 
being removed from his office was to remain in the prov- 
ince for forty days, in order that the opportunity might be 
given to prefer charges against him. 

Around the person of the king there was a large num- 
ber of people of different rank, who formed his court. The 
highest in rank of these were his council. Up to this time 
all this court had helped him in the administration of the 
affairs of government. Louis IX. introduced the principle 
of division of labor by dividing this council into three 
The council groups and assigning to each a particular kind of work, 
divided into ^pi-^ggg divisions were the council proper, the officers of the 
groups. treasury, and the parlement. The council retained the 

executive functions of the government. The treasury of- 
ficials had charge of the collection and disbursement of 
all the moneys of the king, while the parlement became the 
highest judicial body in the realm. Previous to this time 
the administration of justice had been made very difficult 
because [the king was constantly travelling from one part 
of the kingdom to another. And since his council accom- 
panied him, and all cases must be tried in, or near, his 
presence, all the parties to a case were compelled to follow 
him about ; and often several weeks, or even months, 
would elapse before a case might come to trial. To remedy 



France, 1108-14^4; England, 10/0-148^ 227 

this, Louis established the parlement in Paris and gave it a 
fixed place of meeting. 

The jurisdiction of the parlement was also extended. The parle- 
The revival of the study of Roman law brought out the '"^"^• 
imperial principle that the king is the source of all justice. 
The theory arose that the jurisdiction of the nobles was a 
fief held of the king. It followed as a matter of course that 
every one should have the right of appealing to the king in 
case he were not satisfied with the result of his trial, and 
also that the king might call before his court any case that 
he might wish. For various reasons the king wished to 
make the number of these " royal cases" as large as pos- 
sible and so interfered more and more in the baronial 
courts, and brought all the important cases before his own 
judges. Louis forbade the trial by duel and put in its stead 
the appeal to a higher court. The parlement, therefore, 
became the court of appeal over all the baronial courts, and 
the king's justice became superior to all baronial justice. 

While Louis was truly religious in accordance with the Louis IX. 
ideas of his age, and defended the Church against all vio- ^"^ ^"^ 
lence and injustice, he nevertheless guarded his royal pre- 
rogatives against clerical encroachments. He compelled 
the Church to contribute its part toward the support of the 
government by the payment of tithes and other taxes. He 
limited, to a certain extent, the judicial power of the bish- 
ops, and subjected a part of the clergy to the civil law. 
He greatly favored the mendicant orders at the expense of 
the clergy, using them as ambassadors, as missi dominici, 
and in many of its highest offices. 

With the accession of Philip HI. (1270-85) favorites Philip III., 

made their appearance at the French court, behind whom i?7o-85- 
'■ '■ Favorites 

the king hides so successfully as to conceal his real charac- at the court, 
ter. These favorites were generally of the common people, 
capable, ambitious, and trained in the Roman law, from 



228 The Mcdiccval Period 



which fact they were called legistes. They were generally 
hated by the nobility, who regarded them in the light of 
usurpers. Philip III. was drawn into a war with some of 
the kingdoms in Spain, which led to his acquisition of Na- 
varre. He also added to the royal domain several other 
important territories in the south of France. He punished 
his rebellious vassals with great severity, and compelled 
the Church to pay well for the privilege of receiving lega- 
cies. In order to secure immunity from the laws of the 
land, men took the tonsure and were called clergymen, 
and yet engaged in business or led a wandering or vaga- 
bond sort of life, many of them being married, and living 
in all respects as laymen. These he deprived of the pro- 
tection of the Church law, and subjected to taxation and 
other state control. 
Philip IV., Under the rule of Philip IV. (1285-1314), called the 

1285-1314. Handsome, France became the leading power in Europe. 
His favorites furnished him with a policy : he strove to 
imitate Justinian. The influence of the Roman law at his 
court may be seen from the fact that a large number of 
great questions were settled by the form of trial. Philip 
IV. chose the most opportune times of interfering in the 
affairs of the provinces which, being on the eastern frontier, 
owed allegiance to the German emperor. Since the em- 
perors were all weak, he was able to extend his boundaries 
considerably at the expense of the empire. 

The commanding position of Philip IV. in Europe is 
The papacy shown by the removal of the papacy to Avignon, and the 
removed to control which he exercised over the popes. Clement V., 
in order to escape from condemning his predecessor, Boni- 
face VIII., delivered the Order of the Templars into the 
Destruction king's hands. Heavy charges were trumped up against it, 

of the Tern- ^y^^^ ^j^g ^^^\ motive of the king was to secure possession of 
plars. 

its vast wealth. 



Prance, 1108-14^4; England, 1070-1485 229 

In the time of Philip IV. order was introduced into the Improve- 
government by the creation of certain new offices, the func- p-overnment 
tions of which were defined. The various sorts of work 
in the government were differentiated and each sort assigned 
to a particular set of officials. For the personal service of 
the king there was a court called at that time the king's 
''Hotel; " the chamberlain, the chaplain, and those who 
had control of the guard and the troops were the most im- 
portant persons of the Hotel. The " chancellerie'^ had 
charge of all public affairs. By means of it all intercourse 
between the king and his people was conducted. Within 
the chancellerie there was a college of notaries who drew 
up all public or state documents. The heads of this college 
were called " clercs du secret,'''' or private secretaries of 
the king, because they were acquainted with the secrets of 
the king and his council. The third chief division in the 
government was called the King's Council, the members of 
which had to take a special oath to the king. They Avere 
his secret counsellors and deliberated with him on all im- 
portant questions. The States-general ^ were not yet an The States- 
organic part of the government. The attendance upon S^"^^^ • 
these, however, had, in the process of time, come to be lim- 
ited to the more powerful nobles and to the abbots and 
bishops. It had been customary for the king to summon 
them to obtain their advice whenever the special situation 
demanded. In 1302, when the trouble with the pope was 
assuming large proportions, the king felt that he must know 
whether he would have the support of all his people if he 
proceeded to extreme measures against the papacy. He 
therefore summoned the States-general, and at the same 
time called on the cities each to send two or three repre- 

' It should be noted that " States-general" correspond to the Parlia- 
ment in England, while in France the name P-'rlement was given to the 
body of the king's judges. The Parlement in f'rance is a judicial body ; 
in England the Parliament is a legislative body. 



230 



The Mcdiccval Period 



The parle- 
ment and 
the king's 
justice. 



sentativcs to attend the meeting. The king laid before 
them his plans and asked for their judgment. After some 
deliberation, the body signified its approval and promised 
him the support of the whole people. In 1308 a similar 
meeting of the same body was held to discuss the charges 
against the Templars. More than two hundred cities sent 
their representatives, and again the States-general merely 
said " yes " to the king's proposals. It is characteristic of 
the part which the cities played in this proceeding that 
they were "asked by the king to send deputies to hear, 
receive, approve, and do all that might be commanded 
them by the king." Again, in 13 14, when the war with 
Flanders was about to be renewed and the treasury was 
empty, the king summoned the States-general and told 
them what he wanted. The States-general did nothing 
but express their submission to the will of the king. This 
was the much written about entrance of the Third Estate 
into the political history of France. French historians 
never tire of exalting its importance. But, as a matter of 
fact, the influence of the Third Estate was, and remained, 
practically nothing till the time of the French Revolu- 
tion. It had no such history and development as the 
House of Commons in England. In France the author- 
ity of the king prevailed, and the Third Estate was sim- 
ply permitted to say "yes" when it was commanded so 
to do. 

The growth of the parlement during this reign was re- 
markable. Ordinary cases arising on the royal domain 
were tried before it, and the number of appeals from all 
parts of the kingdom greatly increased. The absolute 
supremacy of the king's court and the king's justice over 
all baronial courts and baronial justice was more than ever 
recognized. The right of appeal was made use of to such 
an extent that the king was compelled to empower his 



France, 1108-14Q4; England, ioyo-1485 231 

baillies to decide many cases in order to prevent the par- 
lement from being overwhelmed with work. 

As the government grew more thoroughly organized, it 
became much more expensive. Louis IX. had always had 
enough income to support the government. Philip IV. 
was always in debt. He made the most strenuous efforts 
to raise money, but even by taxes, seizures, aids, forced Taxation, 
loans, confiscations, persecutions of the Jews, taxation of 
all the foreign merchants in France, taxation of the Church, 
the seizure of the possessions of the Templars, and many 
other questionable means, was not able to keep his treasury 
full. 

Philip IV. was succeeded by his three sons in turn : 
Louis X. (1314-16), Phihp V., called the Long (1316- 
22), and Charles IV. (1322-28). They were not able to 
preserve the monarchy in that state to which their prede- 
cessors had brought it. There was a general reaction on 
the part of the nobles against the absolutism of Philip IV., 
and they were able to force from these kings many provin- 
cial charters which restored and safeguarded local feudal 
rights. Louis X. especially made a large number of such 
concessions. 

Philip V. labored hard to strengthen the government 
and centralize the power. He met, however, with the 
most bitter opposition from his barons. All three brothers 
died without male heirs, and since Philip V., in order to 
justify his seizure of the crown, had prevailed on the Coun- 
cil to declare that the crown could not pass by the female 
line, the throne was vacant. The nearest male heir was End of the 
Philip of Valois, a cousin of the dead king. Edward III. ranet' 
of England also laid claim to the crown on the ground line, acces- 
that he, being a nephew of the late king Charles IV., was House^of ^ 
the nearest male heir by the female line. The claims of Valois, 
Edward were rejected and Philip of Valois became king. ^32o. 



232 



The Mediaeval Period 



England, 
1070, to the 
Hundred 
Years' 
Wars. 



William the 
Conqueror. 



The Domes- 
day Book. 



William II., 
1087-1100. 



Henry I., 
1100-35, 
publishes a 
charter of 
liberties. 



Edward soon gave up all pretensions to the throne, came 
to Amiens, and did homage to Philip VI. for his feudal 
holdings. In 1330, and again in 1331, he acknowledged 
himself without any reserve as the feudal subject of the 
king of France. 

Norman genius showed itself in the government of Will- 
iam the Conqueror. The name of what was formerly called 
the Witenagemot, composed of all who held land directly 
from the king, was gradually changed to Great Council. 
Both his Norman and his English subjects were trouble- 
some, but he used the one to kefep the other in check. In 
the large towns he built fortresses which he garrisoned with 
Norman troops. He kept the English militia ready for 
service. He had made an exact list of the possessions and 
holdings of all his subjects, which was called the Domes- 
day Book, and on the basis of which he levied and collected 
his taxes with great regularity and exactness. His severity 
in punishing all offences, his heavy taxes, and his devasta- 
tion of a large territory to make a game preserve caused 
him to be hated by his people, who did not understand the 
great services he was rendering England. 

The reign of William Rufiis (1087-1100), the second 
son of William the Conqueror, was violent and oppressive 
in the extreme. He laid such heavy financial burdens on 
the people, that they were not sorry when he met his death 
while hunting in the New Forest. The eldest son of Wil- 
liam, Robert, had received the duchy of Normandy, which 
he had pawned in order to go on the first crusade. The 
third son, Henry, was made king of England (1100-35). 
Fearing that his title to the crown was not good, and that 
Robert would probably oppose him, he tried to propitiate 
the people in every possible way. He published a charter 
of liberties which contained concessions to the Church, 
the vassals, and the nation at large, and assured all classes 



France, 1108-1494; England, 10/0-1483 233 

that they would no longer be subjected to the wrongs and 
exactions which they had suffered from his brother. 

Henry increased his popularity by marrying the daughter 
of the king of Scotland, Matilda, a descendant from the 
old English line of kings. The wisdom of his conduct 
became apparent when Robert, returning from the crusade, 
tried to get possession of England and the people stood 
faithfully by Henry. Robert was taken prisoner in battle, 
and Henry seized Normandy. Henry was the first Eng- 
lish king to grant charters to towns, thus securing them 
against unjust interference from their feudal lords, as well 
as from excessive taxes and tolls. He established the in- 
stitution known as the curia regis, which had control of The curia 
the king's finances, and tried all cases in which the king's ""^gis. 
tenants-in-chief were concerned. He obtained an oath 
from his barons that they would accept his daughter Ma- 
tilda as ruler, but at his death his nephew, Stephen of Stephen of 
Blois (1135-54), came to London and secured his own j,°it'c/i 
election. War ensued between Stephen and Matilda, and 
England suffered much from it till 1153, when it was 
agreed that Stephen should remain king, but should be 
succeeded by Henry, the son of Matilda. 

Henry II. (1154-89) was strong, active, and able, and Henry II., 
had but one thought, namely, to make himself the real mas- iiS4-o9- 
ter of England. Both the nobility and the Church were in 
his way. His reign is famous for his struggles with those 
powers. 

For the purposes of consultation, he called the Great 
Council together often, and compelled many of the small 
feudal holders to attend it. The curia regis was also 
strengthened and its work of rendering justice emphasized. 
In 1 1 66 he called a meeting of the Great Council at Clar- 
endon and published a set of decrees called the Assize of 
Clarendon. By its terms the old custom of compurgation 



234 The Mediaeval Period 

Assize of was prohibited, and a new system was introduced. Twelve 
^'66^"*^°°' '^^^^^ ^^ every county and four men from each township in 
it were to form a board for the purpose of deciding who 
should be brought to trial — the work of our grand jury. 
Henry revived the custom of sending out itinerant justices, 
who, by rendering strict justice in the king's name, brought 
the manorial and county courts into disfavor. In 1170 
Henry inquired into the way in which the various barons 
who held the office of sheriff were performing their duties, 
and as the result of the inquiry turned nearly all out and re- 
placed them by men of lower birth, who served from this 
time as a check on the higher nobility. Henry commuted 
the military service which his barons owed him to the pay- 
ment of a sum of money (scutage), with which he hired 
mercenaries. He also reorganized the militia, and re- 
quired all the people to come at his call, equipped ready 
to figlit at their own expense. 

The clergy were opposed to Henry's ideas of judicial 
reform because he meant to bring them also under his own 
The Consti- jurisdiction. In 1164 he published the Constitutions of 
ri**°"^d Clarendon, the purpose of which was to destroy the judicial 

1 164. independence of the clergy. " Every election of bishop 

or abbot was to take place before royal officers, in the king's 
chapel, and with the king's assent. The prelate-elect was 
bound to do homage to the king for his lands before con- 
secration and to hold his lands as a barony from the king, 
subject to all feudal burdens of taxation and attendance in 
the king's court. No bishop might leave the realm with- 
out the royal permission. No tenant in chief or royal ser- 
vant might be excommunicated, or their land placed under 
interdict, but by the king's assent. What was new was 
the legislation respecting ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The 
king's court was to decide whether a suit between clerk 
and laymen whose nature was disputed belonged to the 



France, 1108-14^4; England, 1 070-1 48 5 235 

church courts or the king's. A royal officer was to be 
present at all ecclesiastical proceedings in order to confine 
the bishop's court within its own due limits, and the clerk 
once convicted there passed at once under the civil juris- 
diction. An appeal was left from the archbishop's court 
to the king's court for defect of justice, but none might 
appeal to the papal court save with the king's consent." 

Thomas Beket as chancellor had been a faithful servant Thomas 
of Henry, and had supported him in all his efforts. On ^^^^** 
being made archbishop of Canterbury, however, Thomas 
changed his point of view and opposed the king in his at- 
tempts to control the clergy. The king was embittered ; 
and some of his followers, interpreting his words to mean 
that he desired the death of Thomas, murdered the arch- 
bishop. Henry disavowed the deed, did penance at the 
tomb of Beket, and offered a part of Ireland, which he 
had just conquered, as a peace offering to the pope. He 
also withdrew the obnoxious Constitutions of Clarendon, 
whereupon the pope pardoned him and restored him to his 
favor. 

Henry's last years were made bitter by the revolts of his 
sons. He died in 1189, leaving the crown to Richard I. Richard I., 
(1189-99), who spent only a few months in England, and ^^^9-99- 
whose reign is only negatively important, in that his ab- 
sence from the country gave English local independence an 
opportunity to grow. 

John (i 199-12 16) had much of the ability and all the John, 
vices of the Angevin family. He had great political and dip- ^i99-i2io. 
lomatic insight, but he was utterly without honor; unscrupu- 
lous to the last degree, he would break his royal oath with- 
out compunction. He refused his subjects in Angouleme 
justice ; they appealed to the king of France, who sum- 
moned John before him. John, however, disregarded the 
summons, whereupon Philip II. deposed him and overran 



236 Tlie Mediccval Period 

a large part of his French provinces. The murder of his 
nephew, Arthur, lias made John infamous. John refused 
to accept Stephen Langton, who had been appointed arch- 
bishop of Canterbury by Innocent III. Innocent imt Eng- 
land under the interdict and excommunicated John, and 
finally (12 12) even deposed him and offered his crown to 
the king of France. x\.t the same time John's violence 
and injustice to his people led them to revolt against him. 
Hoping to break the opposition, John made peace with the 
pope and received his crown from him as a fief. But the 
struggle with his barons continued until 12 15, when they 
The Magna compelled him to grant the Magna Charta, in which he 
2x1 promised to observe the ancient laws and customs, to abate 

all wrongs, and to require only the legal feudal dues. The 
Church was to have her liberties restored ; the barons and 
the people were to be subject to no violence. The king 
agreed neither to pass nor to execute any judgment upon 
anyone till he had been tried by his peers. After securing 
this charter of their liberties, the barons disbanded. John 
then broke his oath and became more violent than ever 
toward his subjects, whereupon the barons offered the crown 
to Louis, the son of Philip II. Louis invaded England 
Avith some success, but at the death of John the English 
turned to his son, Henry III., then only nine years old. 
Louis was compelled to return to France. 
Henry III., Henry III. (1216-72) was as unscrupulous as his father 

1216-72. j^^^j been. He never refused to take any oath demanded of 

him, but always broke it at the first opportunity. He vied 
with the pope in his demands for money. In 1257 the 
crops were a total failure, but the Pope demanded one- 
third of the income of the year. Being unable to bear these 
burdens longer, the barons came armed to Oxford and 
compelled the king to make certain concessions (1258). 
Later, when the king refused to keep his word, the barons, 



France, 1108-14^4; England, 10/0-148^ 237 

under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, made war on 
him. In 1265 Simon called a meeting of the Great Coun- 
cil, or Parliament, as it was now called, in which, besides 
the barons, two citizens from certain towns also sat. Simon 
had summoned them to be present in order that they might 
give advice in regard to the taxes which could be levied on 
the towns. This is the first appearance of commoners in the Commoners 
Parliament and is the beginning of the House of Commons, j" the Par- 
The civil war ended with the death of Simon and the with- 1265. 
drawal of Henry from the government, all authority being 
placed in the hands of Prince Edward. 

The reign of Edward I. was marked by the conquest of Edward I., 
Wales (1284) and of Scotland (1305), although Scotland 1272-1307. 
renewed the war, and in 13 14, by the battle of Bannock- 
burn, recovered her independence. His legislation was for 
the most part good, and tended to increase the power of the 
crown. Edward 11. (1307-27) was controlled by favorites, Edward II., 
and his reign was in every respect a failure. His wife and ^307-27. 
her paramour, Roger Mortimer, made war on him, and in 
1327 the people joined them and deposed him. He was 
murdered a short time afterward in prison, and Edward IH. 
became king under the regency of Mortimer. 

During the Hundred Years' War England was ruled in The Hun- 
turn by Edward III. (1327-77), Richard II. (1377-99), ^^j.^^^^^' 
Henry IV. (1399-1412), Henry V. (1413-22), and Henry 
VI. (1422-61). During the same period the rulers of 
France were Philip VI. (1328-50), John (1350-64), 
Charles V. (1364-80), Charles VI. (1380-1422), and 
Charles VII. (1422-61). 

The deeper questions at issue in the Hundred Years' War The ques- 
were whether Scotland should remain independent, and jggyg ^ 
whether the king of France should control all of France, or 
whether all of Scotland and France should be subjected to 
the king of England. It had come to be the established 



238 



The Mcdiaval Period 



Origin of 
the war. 



Crecy, 1346. 



Poitiers, 
1356. 



purpose of England to reduce Scotland to subjection, and 
she already held so large a part of France as to be able to 
prevent the unification of that country. Scotland, on the 
other hand, was determined to be and remain free, and the 
possession of all the French soil had come to be the most 
important question that confronted the king of France. 
The struggle between England and France was sure to come, 
and it could end in but one of two ways : either the king of 
England must conquer the whole country and displace the 
French king, or the king of France must drive out the Eng- 
lish, and reconquer all that territory which the topography 
of the country and the similarity in language and customs 
had marked out as a legitimate object of his ambition. 

The Hundred Years' War began in Scotland. In 1331 
Edward Balliol laid claim to the crown of Scotland, and 
asked help of Edward III. David Bruce, the other claim- 
ant, fled to France. Philip VI. was trying to extend his 
authority over the Low countries, and Edward III. received 
some of their political refugees, thereby offending Philip VI. 
When Edward III. went to Flanders (1338) the people 
demanded that he assume the title of king of France ; and 
although he had given up all claim to the title, he saw the 
advantages to be derived from it, and, as a kind of war 
measure, in 1340 declared himself its possessor. In the 
same year the English fleet destroyed the French fleet, but 
otherwise little fighting was done till 1346, when Edward 
won the battle of Crecy, and the next year took Calais. 
A truce was then made, which was kept till 1355. In that 
year prince Edward, known as the Black Prince, ravaged 
a large part of southern France. Near Poitiers his force of 
8,000 men was attacked by an army of about 50,000 men, 
but he was victorious, and even captured king John and 
took him to England. In 1359 Edward made another in- 
vasion of southern France, but found there such suffering 



France, 1108-1494; England, 10/0-148^ 239 

and ruin, as the result of his raid of a few years before, 
that he was conscience smitten, and offered to make peace. 
By the terms of the treaty of Bretigny, Edward resigned The jieace 
his claim to the French crown and received several large j-^q ^ ^' 
provinces from France. The Black Prince was sent to 
govern Aquitaine, but by his attempt to levy a hearth tax 
caused an uprising of the people. For a few years the 
English harried many parts of France, but the French re- 
fused to engage in battle. 

The war practically ceased till the accession of Henry V. Henry V., 
(1413-22). His father, Henry IV., had deposed Richard JJ^sthe'^^' 
II. and seized the crown. Henry V., feeling that his claim war. 
to the crown was not secure, hoped to make himself pop- 
ular by a successful war in France. He renewed his claim 
to the French crown and invaded France, but at Harfleur 
lost two-thirds of his troops by disease. However, with 
an army of about 15,000 men, he met and defeated 50,000 
French near Agincourt (141 5). Charles VI. was imbecile, Agincourt, 
and the country divided between two parties, the one ^^^S' 
under the duke of Burgundy, the other under the count of 
Armagnac. The feud between them was so bitter that the 
Burgundians went over to the English. By the treaty of 
Troyes (1420) Henry V. was acknowledged regent of 
France, and was to be recognized as king at the death of 
Charles VI. 

In 1422 both kings died. Henry VI., though only a Henry VI., 

child of nine months, was acknowledged in England and ?. ^"^f;"^,. 

' ° '^ king of both 

in all the northern part of France, and the duke of Bed- countries, 
ford was made regent. Bedford instituted excellent re- 
forms and governed France well. Charles VII., the Dau- 
phin, was recognized south of the Loire. Bedford made 
war on him, and it seemed for a time that the English 
must gain possession of all of France. Bedford was be- 
sieging Orleans (1428) with every prospect of success. Some 



240 TJie Mediccval Period 

of the French nobles, however, especially the duke of Bur- 
gundy, were alienated from the English cause, and at the 
same time help came from an unexpected quarter. 
Jeanne Jeanne d'Arc, a peasant girl, seventeen years old, be- 

lieved herself to have received a commission from God to 
lead her king, Charles VII., to Rheims, to secure his coro- 
nation, and to drive out the English. She was not the only 
woman in France who thought herself appointed for this 
difficult work. In those times of excitement and national 
depression other women came forward with the same be- 
lief in their high calling. Jeanne was the only one fortu- 
nate and capable enough to get a hearing. No one at first 
had any confidence in her, but since there was no other 
help possible she was taken before the young king, who 
determined to give her a chance to test her divine calling. 
She was given command of the army, but only a part of 
her orders were obeyed, because some of the things which 
she commanded were manifestly impossible. The real 
commanders of the army made good use of her presence to 
fire the enthusiasm of the troops to the highest pitch. She 
led the attack on the English before Orleans, and was suc- 
cessful in breaking up the siege of the city. The tide turned 
and everyone was wild with joy and enthusiasm. The be- 
lief in her miraculous mission made the army irresistible. 
The English were driven back, town after town was taken 
by the French, and Charles VII. was soon crowned at 
Rheims (1429). Jeanne continued the struggle, but was 
taken prisoner by the Burgundians and sold to the English. 
She was carried to Rouen, where, after a long trial, she was 
condemned to death on a mixed charge of sorcery, heresy, 
apostasy, and other crimes, which only the Middle Age 
could invent. Her youth, her simplicity, her nobleness 
availed nothing ; she was burned at the stake (May, 1431)- 
But even dead she was still a power in France. Her 



France, 1108-14^4; England, 10/0-148^ 241 

name gave an impetus and courage to her countrymen 

which was destined to result in driving out the English 

entirely. Bedford found the current in France setting 

stronger and stronger against the English. At his death 

(1435) the duke of Burgundy deserted the English cause 

and became the subject of Charles VII. For some years 

the war was continued, but at length (1454) the English 

had been driven out of every place in France except Calais. The 

The Hundred Years' War was over. The final result of it f^S^^^^ 

driven out, 

was the unification of France. By it both England and 14S4. 
France had been profoundly influenced, and at its close ■ 
they were ready to enter a new period of their develop- 
ment. 

The constitutional changes in England during the Hun- Constitu- 

dred Years' War were important. In 1-122 Edward II. ^\°"^' 

^ ^ changes in 

declared that in future all matters pertaining to the king- England, 
dom should be settled by a Parliament, in which should be 
represented the clergy and barons and the common people. 
He also abolished certain feudal taxes, and relied on grants 
of money by the Parliament. In 1341 the commoners 
were separated from the lords, and met apart for the pur- 
pose of deliberation. In 1376 the Parliament claimed and 
exercised the right to try members of the king's council 
for embezzlement. 

The fourteenth century was marked by a movement Social 
among the people which showed itself in many ways. In "^o^^^^nts. 
1348 a plague spread over all Europe, which resulted in 
the death of perhaps half of the population. Whole dis- 
tricts in England were almost depopulated. This, of 
course, made the demand for the service of free laborers 
much greater. The natural effect was that all free work- 
men demanded larger wages than they had ever before re- 
ceived. The English sense of the binding force of custom 
and tradition was thereby deeply offended, especially since 



242 The Mediceval Period 

at the same time the expense of farming was increased. In 
1349 both Houses of Parhament met and passed a statute 
that the same wages should be paid as were customary be- 
fore the plague, and made it a crime for anyone to demand 
more. The immediate effect of this measure was to in- 
crease the bitterness already existing between the classes, 
but as far as prohibiting the demand for higher wages went, 
it was without avail. The work must be done, and the 
peasants refused to do it without an increase in pay. This 
led the landlords to try to 'reduce the free laborers to vil- 
lainage again. In many cases the villain had secured his 
freedom by paying a small sum of money to his landlord. 
Since the service had become so much more valuable, the 
landlords now declared that the contract into which they 
had entered was unfair, and they refused to accept the sum 
of money agreed upon in place of service. This would have 
solved the difficulty and the landlords would have thereby 
acquired a sufficient amount of labor to till their estates, 
but its injustice caused a revolt. Many of Wyclifs preach- 
ers espoused the cause of the peasants, and there arose be- 
sides a large number of peasants who went about inciting 
the people to resistance. There was an uprising all over 
England. The property of the nobility was attacked, their 
game and fish preserves destroyed, the records of the vil- 
lain's dues were burnt, and even many people put to death. 
Wat An army of more than 100,000, led by Wat Tyler, Jack 

Straw, and John Ball, marched upon London, expecting 
to appeal to the king to support them against the nobility. 
They got into London and put many to death, among 
them the lawyers of the new Inn of the Temple and the 
archbishop of Canterbury, who had proposed many of the 
obnoxious measures in Parliament. Richard II., still a mere 
boy, met them and promised to abolish villainage, where- 
upon the majority of the peasants returned home. About 



Tyler's 
rebellioa 



France, 1108-14Q4; England, 1070-148^ 243 

30,000 of them, however, were bent on mischief, and 
could not be dispersed until an army attacked and scattered 
them. The revolt was followed by severe punishments. 
The leaders were put to death, as well as many who had 
taken part in it. All England was united against the in- 
surgents, and the lot of the peasants became harder than 
ever before. 

This peasants' revolt had a bad effect on a movement Wyclif. 
which had for its author John Wyclif. By an independ- 
ent study of the Bible he had come to differ radically from 
the Church in many points. He attacked the authority of 
the pope and the doctrine of transubstantiation ; later even 
the mass. At first he had simply striven against what he 
called abuses in the Church — the worldly clergy, the heavy 
ecclesiastical taxes, the sale of indulgences and pardons, 
pilgrimages, the use of relics, and the worship of saints ; 
but opposition developed his ideas until he broke out into 
open hostility to the Church in almost everything. He 
based all his doctrines directly on his interpretation of the 
Bible. He sent out many preachers to carry his teaching 
to the people, and they succeeded in gaining many adher- 
ents. His sympathies were, for the most part, with the 
common people, and his cry for reform was taken up by 
them. It was due in part to his agitation that the peasants' 
revolt took place. The violence committed on that occa- 
sion frightened the nobility and even the common people, 
and Wyclif s movement thus fell into disrepute. His 
preachers, called the Lollards, or idle babblers, were re- 
pressed and persecuted. He himself was bitterly opposed 
by the clergy, but suffered no personal violence, though he 
was compelled to leave Oxford and retire to his home at 
Lutterworth, where he spent the last years of his life in re- 
vising an earlier translation of the Bible. He was ordered 
to appear at Rome to defend himself, when death overtook 



244 The Mcdicrz'ol Period 

him. Political considerations, the alliance between Henry 

V. and the papacy, led to the repeated persecutions of his 

followers, and so his movement came to nothing. 

During the last years of his life Henry VI. suffered from 

frequent attacks of insanity, and these directly caused the 

civil strife known, from the badges of the opposing fac- 

The Wars tions, as the Wars of the Roses. This was a struggle be- 

2^ ^^^ tween the great houses of England, at first for the control 

Roses, ^ . 

1455-85. of the king, and later for the possession of the crown. The 

duke of York drove Henry VI. out of England in 1461 
and had himself crowned as Edward IV. (1461-83). For 
ten years the contest continued, and ended only with the 
death of Henry VI. 

Edward IV., feeling himself secure on the throne, found 
leisure to begin a war in connection with Charles the Bold 
of Burgundy against Louis XI. of France. He hoped to 
prevent the extension of French power in the Netherlands, 
but was unable to do so. His death put his son, Edward 
v., a boy of twelve years, on the throne. Both Edward 
V. and his younger brother, the duke of York, were thrust 
into the Tower by their uncle, Richard, duke of Gloucester, 
who had been made protector ; and the relatives of their 
mother, who had been exercising great influence up to this 
time, were either imprisoned or put to death. Fearing that 
if the young king were once crowned and acknowledged, 
his own life would be in danger, Richard, by the most 
shameless charges against the honor of his own mother, 
secured the recognition of himself as king. He was crowned 
Richard as Richard III. (1483). He met with some opposition, 

g^ •' ^4 3- [),j{^ \ygg ^i^Iq [q resist it successfiilly. He felt, however, 
that he was not safe so long as the young Edward V. and 
his brother lived, and they were accordingly put to death 
in the Tower by Richard's orders. This crime cost him 
his popularity. The duke of Ricliniond, another descend- 



85 



France, 1108-1494; England, ioyo-1485 245 



Henry VII., 
1485-1500, 
brings 
peace. 



ant of Edward HI., was encouraged to invade England, and 
in the battle of Bosworth (1485) Richard III. was slain, and 
the duke of Richmond was made king under the title of 
Henry VII. For nearly thirty years ICngland had suffered 
so terribly by these civil wars that the people, worn out, 
were willing to do anything, or to submit to anything, if 
only they might have peace. It was not so much that the 
great houses were destroyed ; it was rather the horror that 
was everywhere felt for civil war that now opened the way 
for the Tudor House, of which Henry VII. was the head, 
to become practically absolute, and rule without regard to 
constitution or Parliament. The people, feeling that noth- 
ing could be worse than civil war, were glad to have a 
strong king, because they believed that such a ruler alone 
was able to preserve peace and order. 

The Renaissance was just beginning to be felt in Eng- 
land at this time. Richard III. was himself one of its 
most prominent supporters. Before he saw the way open to England 
the throne he had been especially active in this direction. 
It was unfortunate both for him and for the cause of learn- 
ing that the temptation to seize the crown was put in his 
way. But even as king he kept alive his interest in the 
new learning and aided it by his legislation. He passed a 
law forbidding any hindrance or injury to anyone who was 
engaged in importing or selling books in the kingdom. 
Learning suddenly became with many a passion ; the move- 
ment was still in its swaddling-clothes, to be sure, but the 
foundation was being laid for the glorious achievements of 
the sixteenth century. 

To return to France, the last years of Charles VII. were 
not so fortunate as the first. The victories which Jeanne 
d'Arc won for him secured him the title of the Victorious. 
By establishing a standing army he became independent of 
his vassals for military service. He quarrelled with his 



The 
Renais- 
sance in 



246 



I'hc Mcdiccval Period 



A standing 
army in 
France. 



Louis XI. 
1461-83. 



The unifica. 
tion of 
France- 



son Louis, who thereupon intrigued against him, and made 
alliances with his enemies. The king also fell under the 
control of bad ministers. His court was vitiated by the 
presence of infamous women. 

Louis XL (1461-83) was, from the point of view of the 
kingship, one of the most successful of all the French kings, 
but he has won the reputation of being the most cruel, 
crafty, and unprincipled of men. He was a master in the 
arts of duplicity and deception. His settled policy was : 
the acquisition of territory, and the strengthening of the 
royal power. Several of the great appanages were added 
to the royal domain during his reign ; two most important 
acquisitions were made on the eastern frontier as follows : 
in 1477, at the death of Charles the Bold, duke of Bur- 
gundy, Louis XL seized his duchy, and in 1481 he got 
possession of Provence. In this way the eastern boundary 
of France was much extended. In order to increase the 
royal prerogative, Louis XL established provincial parle- 
ments, thereby dividing and weakening the central parle- 
ment, the body that was most able to hinder the growth of 
the royal power. 

Charles VIII. (1483-98), the successor of Louis XL, 
increased the royal possessions by the addition of Brittany 
(1491), thus practically completing the unification of 
France. The power of the king was rapidly increasing, 
while that of the feudal nobility was practically broken. 
The king was ruler in fact as well as name. With the 
whole of France in his hands the way was open for Charles 
VIII. to look abroad. His invasion of Italy (1494) marks 
in French history the beginning of the era of conquest. 



France, 1108-14P4; England, 10/0-148^ 247 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Philip Augustus. Huiton, P/iih'p Augustus. $0.75. Macmillan. 

2. The Hundred Years' War. Oman, Tke Hutidred Years' War. $0.50. 

Scribner. 

3. Joan OF Arc. V,o-<n^\\, Joan of Arc. $2.00. Houghton. Tuckey, Joan 

of Arc. $0.75. Caldwell. Lamartine, Joan of Arc. $0.50. Mac- 
millan. 

4. Henry II. Mrs. J. R. Green, Life of Henry II. $0.75. Macmillan. 

"button, King and Baronage. $0.50. Scribner. 

5. Henry V. Church, Henry V. $0.75. Macmillan. 

6. WvcLiF. Poole, John Wycliffe and t!ie Early Movements of Reform. $0.80. 

Oxford. Lechler, John Wycliffe and His English Precursors. 8s. 
Religious Tract Society. K\^o Life and Times of John Wycliffe. 2S. 6s. 

7. Warwick. Oman, War%!jick the Kingmaker. $0.75. Macmillan. 

8. Chaucer. Morley, Chaucer. $0.75. Harper. Penn. Univ., Translations. 

Vol. II., Chap. V. 

9. Simon DE MoNTFORT. Creighton, Simon de Mont/ort. $1.00. Longmans. 

10. Edward I. Tout, Edward I. $0.50. Macmillan. 

11. E.NGLisH Life in THE Thirteenth Century, jasserand, English Wayfar- 

ing Life. $3.50. Putnam. 



CHAPTER XVI 

GERMANY, 1254-1500, AND THE SMALLER STATES OF 

EUROPE. 



The Great 
Interreg- 
num, 1254- 
73- 



Rudolf, 
count of 
Hapsburg, 
Emperor, 
1273-92. 



LITERATURE.— As in Chaps. III., IV., and VII. 

Blok, History of the People of the Netherlands. Vol. I. 
nam. 



.50. Put- 



Anarchy prevailed in Germany during the great inter- 
regnum (1254-73). The great princes made use of the 
opportunity to seize the crown lands and to make them- 
selves strong at the expense of the weaker nobles. But in 
spite of the violence of the times, owing to the spirit of 
self-help which the cities exhibited, as shown in the Rhen- 
ish league, industry and commerce increased. 

The seven princes who from this time have the sole right 
to elect the emperor, fearing lest the new emperor would 
make them disgorge what they had unjustly seized, were in 
no hurry to end the interregnum. Finally, the pope told 
them that if they did not elect an emperor, he himself 
would appoint one. They accordingly chose Rudolf, coimt 
of Hapsburg, who they thought would not be strong 
enough to interfere with them in any way. Rudolf had 
tlie good sense to see that he could do nothing in Italy and 
very little in Germany, so he wisely exerted himself in try- 
ing to strengthen his family l)y acquiring as much territory 
as possible. Ottokar, king of Bohemia, resisted him. Ru- 
dolf was victorious over him and confiscated his possessions 
(1278), retaining a large part of them for his own family. 
In this way the Hapsburgs became possessed of Austria. 
Vienna was made their residence 

248 



After thus looking after 



Germany and the Smaller States of Europe 249 



the interests of his family, Rudolf turned his attention to 
the empire, restoring peace, and administering justice with 
a firm hand. 

At the death of Rudolf the electors refused to choose his 
son, lest the Hapsburgs should become too strong. Adolf 
of Nassau (1292-98) was elected, but was soon deserted be- 
cause he also wished to gain territory at the expense of the 
empire. The electors deposed him and set up Albrecht I. 
(i 298-1 308), the son of Rudolf I. Albrecht I., continu- 
ing the policy of his father, made friends with the cities in 
order to have their aid against the nobles. 

Henry VII. of Luxemburg (1308-13) succeeded Al- 
brecht, and by marrying the widowed queen of Bohemia to 
his son, secured his family in the possession of that king- 
dom. Forgetting the lessons which his predecessors had 
learned, Henry VII. allowed himself to be persuaded to 
go to Italy in the vain hope of reestablishing order there. 
He received both the Lombard and imperial crowns, but 
died suddenly near Pisa without accomplishing anything. 
A disputed election followed. The Luxemburg party made 
Ludwig of Bavaria emperor, while the Hapsburgs elected 
one of their own number, Frederick the Fair. A civil war 
ensued which ended in the victory of the Luxemburgs. 
Ludwig was the acknowledged emperor, but Frederick was 
to be his successor, and in the meantime to have the title 
of king of the Romans. He was also to act as regent in 
the absence of the emperor. Ludwig then went to Italy, but 
was able to do nothing toward a settlement of the disturb- 
ances in that unfortunate country. He deeply offended 
the pope by receiving the imperial crown from a layman, 
the head of the Roman Commune. A bitter struggle ensued 
between pope and emperor, in which the claims of both to 
universal dominion were renewed. The pope declared 
Ludwig deposed, and claimed the right to act as emperor 



Adolf of 
Nassau, 
1202-98. 



Albrecht I., 
1298-1308. 



Henry VII., 
of Luxem- 
burg, 
1308-13. 



Ludwig of 
Bavaria, 

1314-47. 
Frederick 
the Fair. 



250 



The Mediaval Period 



Rhense, 
1338. 



Charles IV. 
1346-78. 



The Golden 
Bull, 1356. 



Wenzel, 
1378-1400. 



Origin of 
Switzer- 
land. 



until another emperor should be elected. In answer to this 
the electors met at Rhense (1338), and asserted that they 
alone were competent to elect an emperor, nor did their 
choice need the confirmation of the pope. 

Ludwig spent the last years of his life in trying to secure 
property for his family. This turned the electors against 
him and involved him in a war with Charles of Bohemia, 
who was set up as a rival king, a struggle brought to an end 
only by the death of Ludwig (1347). Charles was every- 
where recognized as his successor. As king of Bohemia, 
Charles IV. deserved well of his country. He acquired 
much new territory, getting possession of Brandenburg, 
Silesia, and Moravia. For his capital city, Prague, he had 
a special fondness. He established the first German uni- 
versity there (1348) and surrounded himself with the best 
artists of his time (Prague School of Painting). In 1356 he 
published the Golden Bull, by the terms of which the 
relations of king and electors were settled. Charles made 
two journeys into Italy, but succeeded only in getting him- 
self laughed at by the Italians, who had no regard for so 
insignificant an emperor. He renewed the imperial claim 
to Burgundy by having himself crowned king of that coun- 
try. But this was an empty form. Burgundy was already 
hopelessly broken into independent principalities, event- 
ually to be absorbed by the expanding kingdom of France. 
Charles IV. was succeeded by his son Wenzel (13 78-1 400), 
but he was so incapable and became so debauched that he 
was deposed. 

The fourteenth century witnessed the defence of their 
liberties by the Swiss. The history of. the origin of Swit- 
zerland takes us back to the last Hohenstaufen. During 
the reign of Frederick II. the two forest cantons of Uri and 
Schwyz had accjuired letters-i)atent from the emperor, by 
which they were freed from the sovereignty of the counts 



Geriiiaiiy and the Smaller States of Europe 251 

of Hapsburg, whose territory lay in that part of Germany 
(southern Suabia). In 1291 representatives from these two 
cantons met with some men of Unterwalden, where the 
Hapsburgs still had seigniorial rights, and swore to protect 
each other as confederates (Eidgenossen) against every at- 
tack upon their liberties. This is the beginning of the 
Swiss confederation. These simple, hardy peasants, neat- 
herds, and foresters, who, in their isolated mountain homes, 
had preserved much of the old Teutonic vigor, and even 
many of the old Teutonic institutions, had never been as- 
similated to the feudal system ; and now that it began to 
irritate them with restrictions on their freedom, they re- 
solved to shake it off. The fact that their feudal lords, the 
Hapsburgs, had risen to the empire did not frighten them 
from their resolution. They even ventured upon encroach- 
ments of the neighboring territory. This was more than 
Hapsburg pride and patience would submit to, and Leo- 
pold, brother of Frederick the Fair, invaded their ter- 
ritory with the flower of Austrian chivalry. At Morgarten 
(13 1 5) the Confederates suddenly fell upon Leopold, and his 
feudal armament was annihilated by bands of low-born peas- 
ants, equipped with axes and pitchforks. It was a spectacle 
new and surprising to the world, prophetic of the passing of 
knighthood. Owing to this success of the confederation 
new adherents gradually poured in, until by the middle 
of the century, Zurich and Bern having joined their lot to 
their neighbors', the confederation embraced the so-called 
eight old cantons (Orte). It was repeatedly called upon to 
defend itself against the Hapsburgs and their feudal allies of 
Suabia, but with the battle of Sempach (1386), won over 
another Leopold, it raised itself beyond danger from prince- 
ly authority. This battle was, in its character of peasant 
versus baron, a repetition of Morgarten, and the touching 
story of Arnold of Winkelried, who is said to have made 



252 



The Mediceval Period 



Rupert, 
1400-10. 
Sigismund, 
1410-37- 



The Hohen- 
zollern 
acquire 
Branden- 
burg, 

1415. 



The revolt 
in Bohemia. 



Albrecht 
II., 1438-39- 



the first breach in the ranks of the enemy by gathering to 
his breast as many spears as he could grasp, truthfully illus- 
trates the style of manhood destined in the new social order 
to supersede the knight. 

At the death of emperor Rupert (1400-10) there was 
a disputed election, but Sigismund was finally recognized 
as emperor (1410-37). His efforts to reform the Church 
led to the calling of the council at Constance, which con- 
demned Huss to be burned for his heresy, and ended the 
schism by deposing the three popes who were struggling 
for recognition, and electing Martin V. In 14 15 Sigis- 
mund, in order to pay off his indebtedness to Frederick 
of Hohenzollern, gave him the mark of Brandenburg. 
By his wise government Frederick reestablished order and 
made himself master of the territory. The power and 
possessions of his successors steadily grew, till in 1701 the 
mark was made into the kingdom of Prussia, in our day 
the leading power in Germany. 

The burning of Huss led to a national revolt in Bohemia. 
That country was inhabited by Slavs, but there were many 
Germans there also. There was much opposition between 
the two races, and when the national hero, Huss, was 
burned by the German emperor, the Bohemian opposition 
to everything German was quickened into the most bitter 
hostility. In 1419 Sigismund became the lawful king of 
Bohemia, but the Bohemians refused to acknowledge him. 
A fierce civil war ensued ; the Hussites, as they called them- 
selves, were at first victorious, but when religious and social 
dissensions arose among them, and when conservative Bo- 
hemians became frightened at the radical changes proposed 
by the fanatical party, they made peace with the emperor 
and assisted him in restoring order. 

Thebrief reign of Albrecht II. (1438-39), the son-in-law 
and heir of Sigismund, was important for the Hapsburgs, 



Germany and the Smaller States of Europe 253 

because he reacquired for them the imperial crown, and 
united under his dominion all the territory which has ever 
since formed the principal part of their possessions. He 
ruled over the duchy of Austria, Styria, Carniola, Tyrol, 
Bohemia, and Hungary. His nephew, Frederick HI. Frederick 
(1440-93), succeeded him, but his reign presents only a ^'^^•> ^ 
long succession of blunders. He lost Bohemia and Hun- 
gary, which were not recovered by the Hapsburgs till 
1526. 

The signal and unmerited good fortune which befel 
Frederick's house and gave to it new lustre was the acqui- The House 

sition of the greater part of the states of the duke of Bur- °^ Hapsburg 

° ^ acquires 

gundy. During the fifteenth century a collateral branch Burgundy 

of the House of France had gradually added to its French ^ opain. 
fief of Burgundy the whole of the Netherlands, and Charles 
the Bold, duke of Burgundy (1467-77), had become one 
of the foremost rulers of Europe. His ambition looked ' 
toward the establishment of a great middle kingdom be- 
tween France and Germany, independent of either. In 
this scheme the Swiss proved a stumbling-block. Their 
territory lay so opportune for his plans that he resolved to 
subjugate it. But the brave mountaineers beat back his in- 
vasion at Granson and Murten (1476), and finally his whole 
splendid army went down before them at Nancy (1477). 
Charles himself was among the dead. Since there was only 
a daughter, Mary, to succeed him, Louis XL of France im- 
mediately seized the crown fief, the duchy of Burgundy 
proper, on the claim that it was vacant, and would have 
taken more had not Frederick promptly acquired Mary's 
hand in marriage for his son Maximilian (1477), and thus 
established a legal claim to the rest. So the territorial ex- 
pansion of the House of Austria was not checked even under 
this weak king. A similar chance of a happy matrimonial 
alliance gave it, a few years later^ the vast possessions of 



254 



The Mcdiccval Period 



empire. 



Spain (1516), when Maximilian's son, Philip, married 
Joan, heir of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Their son, 
Charles, was the famous emperor Charles V. (1519-55), 
who dreamt of renewing the empire of the west. 

Though the Hapsburgs figure from the fifteenth century 
among the most powerful dynasties of Europe, the empire 
Permanent in nowise profited from their strength. The decay of this 
fm*i^ro° institution had continued from the twelfth century, and 

was destined to continue without interruption. One by one 
its cosmopolitan claims had been exploded. It was now 
only the national government of Germany. But even in 
Germany we have seen it lose its authority, and, although 
it tided itself over to the nineteenth century (1806), it was 
never again anything more than a body without a soul. 
Germany had lost her central government in all but name. 
German strength and civilization, as far as they acquired 
political expression at all in the modern period, are to be 
sought among the local governments of the princes and the 
cities. 

It is necessary to give, in the briefest manner possible, a 
bird's-eye view of those parts of Europe which played no 
great role in the Middle Age, but which were, neverthe- 
less, engaged in the slow process of political development. 

In the northern part of Spain certain principalities were 
gradually formed, such as the kingdoms of Leon, Castile, 
Aragon, and Navarre. About 1040 Leon and Castile were 
united, and a hundred years later Catalonia was absorbed 
by Aragon. When the Ommiad Khalifate came to an end 
(1031), five large Mohammedan kingdoms were established 
(Toledo, Seville, Cordova, Saragossa, and Badajoz), besides 
several small principalities. There was a constant struggle 
between these and the small Christian states on the north 
in which the Christians were increasingly successful. Be- 
fore the end of the thirteenth century all of Spain, except 



Spain. 



Germany and the Smaller States of Europe 255 

the southeastern part, the principality of Granada, was 
again in the hands of the Christians. This remained Mo- Fall of the 
hammedan until 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella con- Moors, 1492. 
quered it. 

Meanwhile Castile and Aragon, becoming the most pow- Union of 
erful states, had gradually absorbed all the others. Sicily Castile and 
and Sardinia were added to Aragon during the last years 
of the thirteenth century. The consolidation of the two 
leading Spanish states was accomplished (1474) by the 
marriage of Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon. 
The unification of Spain was soon after completed and she 
was prepared to take her place among the leading states 
of Europe. 

In 1095, when king Alphonso gave the county of Portu- Portugal. 
gal to his son-in-law, Henry of Burgundy, it consisted of 
only the small territory between the Douro and Minho 
rivers. In 1139, after a great victory over the Moors, the 
count was made a king, and from that time the struggle 
with the Mohammedans for territory went steadily forward. 
In about one hundred years the kingdom was extended to 
nearly its present boundaries. 

The territory lying about the mouth of the Rhine (Hoi- Holland and 
land and Belgium) was slow in attaining a complete inde- '^^^Si"'"' 
pendence and a separate national existence. It was a part 
of the empire of Karl the Great, and in the division of 843 
(Verdun) was given to Lothar. A long strip of territory 
called Lotharingia, lying west of the Rhine from Basel to 
the North Sea, came to be divided into two parts, upper 
and lower. The latter comprised all the territory north of 
the Moselle river, including, therefore, nearly all of mod- 
ern Belgium and Holland. Following the feudal tendency, 
Lotharingia broke up into several fiefs, most of which suc- 
ceeded in rendering themselves practically free from for- 
eign control. Among these feudal principalities were the 



256 The Medicrval Period 

counties of Namur, Hainault, Luxemburg, Holland, Gel- 
derland, and others ; the episcopal sees of Liege, Cambrai, 
and Utrecht ; and the duchies of Brabant and Limburg. 
To the west of these lay the county of Flanders, which, 
breaking away from the kingdom of France, had become 
practically independent. The growth and power of the 
cities in all this territory were remarkable. Their inhabit- 
ants became rich, and early took part in the communal 
revolt. They naturally wished to be free from Germany 
and France, one or the other of which had sovereign claims 
over all this land, and hence naturally became the allies of 
England in the Hundred Years' War. Their progress in 
civilization was rapid, and during this period they laid the 
foundation of the strength which they were to develop in 
the sixteenth century in their tremendous struggle with 
Spain. 

During the last years of the fourteenth century and the 
first of the fifteenth the French dukes of Burgundy got pos- 
session by marriage and conquest of almost all of the.se little 
independent territories after they had seriously weakened 
themselves by making war on each other. By the marriage 
of Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, 
with Maximilian of Austria (1477), afterward emperor, the 
Netherlands came into the possession of the House of 
Hapsburg. 

The conquests and .settlements of the Norsemen have 
already been described. In the ninth and tenth centuries 
Denmark, Denmark was united into one kingdom and had a period 
S ed^n'^" of considerable power, followed by another of decadence. 
Sweden also became a kingdom in the ninth and tenth 
centuries. Christianity was thoroughly established there by 
about 1050. Norway was not unified until about the year 
1000. For some centuries the history of these countries is 
but a confused succession of wars and civil strife which was 



Germany and the Smaller States of Europe 257 

not ended till 1397 by the union of Calmar. Theoreti- 
cally, this union put the three countries on the same plane. 
In reality, Denmark was the leading power and dominated 
the other two. Sweden made several attempts to revolt and 
gain her independence, but without success, till the appear- 
ance of Gustavus Vasa (1523). Norway, however, remained 
united to Denmark till 18 14. 

The victory of emperor Otto I. over the Hungarians on Hungary, 
the Lech (955) put an end to their invasions of the west. 
During the tenth century Christianity was introduced 
among them from Germany and Constantinople. The 
country suffered terribly under the invasion of the Mon- 
gols (from 1 24 1 on), but the devastated regions were 
repeopled with Germans. The family of Stephen (the 
Arpad dynasty) held the throne till 1301, when it be- 
came extinct, and the crown went to an Angevin of 
the French family of Charles of Anjou, who had estab- 
lished himself as king of Sicily and Naples. After the 
failure of this dynasty (1437) the crown was fought over 
for nearly one hundred years. The country, gradually 
weakened by this strife, yielded to an invasion of the Turks. 
At the battle of Mohacs (1526) Solyman II. destroyed the 
Hungarian army, and got possession of a large part of the 
country, which he held for nearly one hundred and fifty 
years. The rest of Hungary passed into the hands of the 
Hapsburgs, but, although added to Austria, always enjoyed 
a measure of independence. 

In consequence of the efforts of Otto I. to extend Chris- 
tianity and, at the same time, German influence to the 
east, several bishoprics (Merseburg, Zeitz, Meissen, Havel- 
berg, Brandenburg) were established under the archbishop 
of Magdeburg. Their bishops were the missionaries to 
the Slavs. Christianity spread among the Poles, but the Poland, 
process of Germanizing them was checked by the establish- 



258 The Mcdiccval Period 

ment of Gnesen as an archbishopric (looo) directly under 
the pope. This secured to Poland an independent eccle- 
siastical development, and also the preservation of its na- 
tionality. In the eleventh century Poland consisted of the 
territory on both sides of the river Warthe. Pomerania 
was conquered in the next century, and thus Poland ac- 
quired a seaboard. By the marriage of a Polish princess 
with the prince Jagello of Lithuania Poland acquired a 
new dynasty and all the territory of the Dnieper and 
Dniester rivers. By some victories over the German Or- 
der her boundaries were also extended on the north till her 
territory reached from the Baltic to the Black Sea. At the 
end of the Middle Age Poland seemed a powerful state, 
possessed of great possibilities. The nobility, however, 
was omnipotent : the common people were oppressed with 
too great burdens ; and there were certain forces at work 
which were destined to cause the destruction of the state. 

The settlements of the Norsemen at Novgorod and Kiev, 
and the dynasty established by them, have already been 
spoken of. These settlements were united about 900 a.d., 
and shortly afterward were Christianized from Constanti- 
The Norse- nople. The Mongols established themselves north of the 
men in Black Sea, and compelled all the principalities of Russia 

to pay tribute. A large part of Russia continued sub- 
ject to them till the end of the fifteenth century, when 
Ivan III. threw off their yoke. He also reduced all the 
independent principalities and, probably to indicate that 
he regarded himself as the successor of the emperor at Con- 
stantinople, took the title of Czar. He laid the foundation 
for the growth of Russia in the next centuries. 
The Greek The Greek Empire was engaged in constant struggle 

Empire. \y\\\i the Mohammedans. The Seldjuk Turks, as we have 

seen, conquered nearly all the imperial possessions in Asia. 
In spite of the efforts that were made about the time of the 



Germany and the Smaller States of Europe 259 

crusades to drive them out of Asia Minor, they kept a 
firm hold upon a part of it. The Osman Turks coming 
from central Asia about the middle of the fourteenth cen- 
tury began a brilliant career of conquest, in which they en- 
croached steadily on the territory of the empire, conquer- 
ing the Balkan peninsula, and extending their sway far 
north beyond the Danube. The fall of Constantinople 
(1453) marks the end of the Byzantine empire. While 
Mohammedanism was being utterly driven out of Spain, it 
was firmly establishing itself on the Balkan peninsula, from 
which vantage ground it was yet to threaten some of the 
Christian states of Europe. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. The Golden Bull. Henderson, Documents, pp. 220. $1.50. Macmillan. 

2. The Beginnings of Swiss Independence. Daendliker, Short History 0/ 

Switzerland. $2.50. Macmillan. 

3. Portugal. H. Morse Stephens, Portugal. $1.50. Putnam. 

4. The Moors in Spain. Hale. Spain. $1.50. Putnam. S. Lane-Poole, 

Moors in Spain. Putnam. Watts, The Christian Recovery 0/ Spain, 
$1.50. 



CHAPTER XVII 

RELIGIOUS AND INTELLECTUAL TENDENCIES IN THE 

RENAISSANCE 

LITERATURE.— Van Dyke, A£-eo//AeJ7euatssatice. $2.00. Scribner. 

Burckhardt, Civilization 0/ the Reiiaissaticc. $4.00. Macmillan. 

Locke, Age 0/ the Gratt Western Sehisiit. $2.00. Scribner. 

Symonds, Reiinissauce in Italy. 7 vols. $14.00. Holt. Condensed, 
in one vol., $1.75. 

Pastor, History of the Popes frotn the Close of t)u Middle Ages. 3 vols. 
$9.00. Kegan Paul. (Roman Catholic.) 

Creighton, History of the Papacy, 1378-1527. 5 vols. $2.00 each. 
Longmans. 

Symonds, Li/e and Times 0/ Michelangelo. 2 vols. $4.00. Scribner. 

Villari, Life and Times 0/ Savonarola, and Life and Times of Machia^ 
7<elli. $2.50 each. Scribner. 

Morley, Machiavclli. $0.50. Macmillan. 

Robinson and Rolfe, Petrarch. $2.00. Putnam. 

Wratislaw, John Huss. $1.50. Society for Promoting Christian 
Knowledge. 

Clark, Libraries of the Afcdiieval and Renaissance Periods. $1.00. Mac- 
millan. ■ 

College Histories OF Art. Van Dyke, Painting. HamUn, A rchitect- 
ure. Marquand and Frothingham, Sculpture. $1.50 each. Long- 
mans. 

Biographies of Artists. $1.25 per vol. Scribner. Biographies of 
Giotto, Titian, Fra Angelico, del Sarto, da I'ijici, Michelangelo, Raphael, 
etc. 

Art Handbooks. Edited by E. J. Poynter. $2.00 per vol. Scribner. 
g vols, dealing with Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture. 

Characteris- The period which we have been studying, erroneously 
the Middle ^^^'^d the Dark Ages, had a civilization peculiarly its own. 
Age. Politically, the age was dominated by the idea of the world- 

empire, until the thirteenth century saw the destruction of 
the empire and the rise of nationalities and states. Eccle- 
siastically, it was ruled by the idea of the world-Church, 
with the pope at its head. Intellectually, the period may 

260 



Religions Tendencies in the Renaissance 261 

be gauged by the fact that the Germans, a vigorous, primi- 
tive people, were slowly learning, adopting, and adapting 
the Roman civilization preserved and taught them by the 
Church. Of all the institutions in the Middle Age the 
Church, because she held the position of both priest and 
teacher of the young barbarian world, was by far the most 
powerful. 

The Middle Age presents many phenomena which indi- The Middle 
cate that the mind of man was not idle. The schools of productive 
Karl the Great, and the universities which appear about m many 
the twelfth century ; the Latin literature, chronicles, biog- 
raphies, histories, controversial and doctrinal writings ; 
the two opposing systems of philosophy : nominalism and 
realism, each of which was represented by men who have 
left us many works attesting the keenness and power of 
their intellects ; the many treatises on theological questions ; 
the religious writings of such men as Bernard of Clairvaux, 
Eckhart, and Thomas a Kempis, whose inimitable '' Imi- 
tation of Christ " is still a classic with men mystically in- 
clined ; the organized life of the nobility, as seen in chiv- 
alry, with its ideal of Christian knighthood, and its literature 
of religion, love, war, and adventure; the minstrels, in 
the north of France the trouveres, in the south the trouba- 
dours, in Germany the minnesingers ; the lyric poetry, and 
especially the great national or religious epics, such as the 
Song of Roland, the Nibelungenlied, the Tales of King 
Arthur and the Round Table, the Canterbury Tales of 
Chaucer, the Tales about Karl the Great, and Alexander 
the Great, and the Holy Grail, and the Divine Comedy of 
Dante ; the two great styles of architecture, the Roman- 
esque (to 1 1 50) and the Gothic (i 125-1500), with their 
magnificent churches, cathedrals, city halls, and palaces ; 
the decorative arts, wood-carving, glass and panel-painting, 
sculpture, miniature painting and illuminating; the re- 



262 



The MedicEval Period 



The 
Renais- 
sance. 



The Re- 
naissance 
began in 
Italy. 



ligious painting whose greatest representative is Giotto; 
the new life in the cities, the growth of commerce, the rise 
of the people to wealth and political independence, their 
activity in building, in the practice of the fine as well as 
the industrial arts, in literature, such as the fables, miracle 
plays, and master-songs — what more is necessary to show 
that the Middle Age was full of mental vigor and activity, 
much of which may still command our interest and admi- 
ration ? 

The Renaissance in its broadest signification is the name 
given to the civilization which gradually displaced in the 
minds of men the mediaeval conceptions of the state, of 
society, of nature, of art, and of philosophy. It was a 
revolution under the dominant influence of the Roman- 
Greek world, which, after a thousand years of oblivion, 
was again brought to light and life. The world had out- 
grown the narrow ideals of the Middle Age, and when the 
ancient world was revealed in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries by its art and literary treasures, there was a spon- 
taneous movement toward the freer life which had been 
the charm of classic times. But since the people could not 
wholly get away from their past immediately the Renais- 
sance is, naturally, characterized by the fusion of the classical 
with the mediaeval. 

The Renaissance had its origin and reached its highest 
development in Italy, and was from there carried to all the 
other countries of Europe. In Italy the conditions favor- 
able to such a movement were far more numerous than 
anywhere else. Italy had more of the Roman civilization. 
Rome was there with her monuments and with all her 
wealth of tradition. Though the wear and tear of daily use 
had greatly modified the Latin tongue and it was rapidly 
becoming Italian, it nevertheless was effective in preserving 
and transmitting to the people of Italy the accumulated 



Religious Tendencies in the Renaissance 263 

culture of Rome. In Italy the power of the Empire was 
weakest, and consequently the feudal system never took vig- 
orous root there. The cities of Italy were the first to be- 
come independent. Their situation, with all its opportu- 
nities, seemed to act as an intellectual ferment, and for 
awhile they led the world in civilization. 

Now this movement in civilization, which is called the See Burck- 
Renaissance and which began in Italy, is a very compli- j^tion ol^ ' 
cated matter. It is important to understand that the Re- the Renais- 
naissance affected man in all his ideas and relations of life ; 
that it altered his status in the family and in society ; that 
it revolutionized his views of the state ; that it aroused in 
him, by enlarging his mental outlook, the passion of knowl- 
edge ; that it endowed him with a larger moral freedom; 
and that it heightened, one might almost say created in 
him, the desire to enjoy the good things of the earth, the 
good things of the senses. The leading ideas of the Re- 
naissance are set forth in the following paragraphs. 

The political theory of the Middle Age was embodied in The Re- 

the belief that God had ordained that the world should be "aissance 

changes the 

ruled by an emperor, to whom kings, dukes, and other dig- political 
nitaries should be subject. The imperial form of govern- ^°^7' 
ment, being thus divinely appointed, was not to be ques- 
tioned. Consequently, no one in the Middle Age ever 
thought of asking whether it actually was a good form 
of government, or whether another form might not be 
better. Now the Renaissance wrought a radical change 
in this political theory. The idea arose that government 
was for the purpose of governing, and hence that was the 
best form of government which actually governed best. 
This led to the discussion of the objects of government, 
and of the most suitable way of attaining these objects 
Thus the Renaissance became the birth-period of what we 
call political science. Men began to believe that the form 



264 



The Mediccval Period 



The Re- 
naissance 
revives 
interest in 
antiquity. 



The Re- 
naissance 
reforms art. 



of government was not ordained of God, but was an arti- 
ficial product, and that men should have the right, therefore, 
to invent the form of government under which they wish 
to live. Under the influence of these new ideas, Machi- 
avelli wrote an interesting book, called " The Prince," in 
which he deals with practical government, and in England 
Sir Thomas More wrote his famous book, "Utopia," in 
which he described an ideal state. 

From another point of view the Renaissance was a re- 
volt against the mediaeval world in favor of classical an- 
tiquity. The Middle Age was ascetic ; it regarded this 
world, not as a place for enjoyment, but rather as a place 
of preparation for the next. The monk was its highest 
ideal. Moral and religious beauty was the only kind ap- 
preciated ; its artists chose only saints for their subjects. 
Medieval life knew nothing of the freedom, beauty, and 
joy of the Greek world. But with a larger knowledge of 
antiquity men became wildly enthusiastic for it and tried 
to recover it. They were seized with a passion for Latin 
and Greek literature, and sought everywhere for manu- 
scripts containing hitherto unknown works of ancient au- 
thors. To possess a manuscript of the Iliad, even without 
being able to read it, was a great distinction. The learned 
men of the day, called humanists, regarded Latin as the 
only language fit for literary purposes. Petrarch, for ex- 
ample, was ashamed of his Italian sonnets on which his fame 
rests, but expected to be made immortal by his Latin writ- 
ings which are now forgotten. 

The discovery of the statues of Greek or Roman work- 
manship directed attention to the beauty of ancient art and 
worked a revolution in the art ideals of the time. The 
saint, hideously emaciated by long fasting, and lost in the 
contemplation of the glories of another world, gave way 
to the Greek ideal of perfect physical beauty. Artists now 



Religious Tendencies in the Renaissance 265 

began to paint handsome men and beautiful women 
engaged in the enjoyment of this world. The change 
in ideals was so radical that everything mediaeval was 
despised ; everything ancient was admired and imi- 
tated. 

The mediaeval man had no eye for the beauty of nature. The Re- 
To him nature was evil. God had indeed created the chang-es the 
world and had pronounced it very good, but through the fall conception 
of man all nature had been corrupted. Satan was now the 
prince of this world. As a result no one could either study 
or admire nature. To study what we call the natural sci- 
ences was to practise the black art, and was of itself suffi- 
cient proof that one was in league with the powers of dark- 
ness. The great learning of pope Sylvester 11. led to the 
invention of the story that in order to become pope he had 
sold himself to the devil. The life of Roger Bacon, per- 
secuted as he was for his researches and learning, well 
illustrates the common mediaeval attitude toward nature. 
But in the Renaissance this view was outgrown. Petrarch Petrarch's 
(1304-74) is an interesting study in this connection. He nature 
had a direct pleasure in the beautiful things of earth, her 
hills and valleys, her fields and flowers. He was prob- 
ably the first man in centuries to climb a mountain for the 
mere delight of the journey and to enjoy the view from the 
summit. In 1335 he made the ascent of Mount Ventoux 
in France. Some peasants whom he met tried to dissuade 
him. He persisted, however, and on reaching the summit 
he was lost for awhile in admiration of the magnificent 
prospect. But the spirit of medievalism, still in him, soon 
reasserted itself. For, overcome by the recollection of his 
sins and follies, he drew from his pocket and began to read 
his favorite book, the "Confessions of St. Augustine." It 
is evident, however, that the emancipation of man from 
the mediaeval thralldom had well begun, and love of nature 



266 



The Medieval Period 



The Re- 
naissance 
fosters indi- 
vidualism. 



The Re- 
naissance 
produces a 
new social 
life. 



The Re- 
naissance 
works a 
change in 
morals and 
religion. 



and appreciation of her beauty, once awakened, steadily 
increased. 

The Renaissance was furtlier characterized by a great 
growth in individuahsm. Hero worship flourished proba- 
bly :is never before and. men were consumed with the pas* 
sion to become famous. To know all that could be known, 
to do all that could be done, to excel in every field of hu- 
man endeavor, to make of one's self the most striking 
and original personality possible, became a common desire. 
Brunellesco, Michel Angelo, and Da Vinci, each equally 
famous in several fields of activity and learning, were not 
isolated examples of the many-sided or perfect man {uomo 
universale) who was the ideal of the age. 

In the Middle Age the feudal castle was the scene of all 
the social life of the time. But with the rise of the cities 
and the overthrow of feudalism came the new urban social 
life. Life in the cities begot new forms of social intercourse, 
such as receptions, parties, balls, and the numerous other 
kinds of social entertainment and intercourse with which 
we are still familiar. In the Renaissance society became a 
fine art. 

In the light of the above-mentioned changes it would 
not seem strange if we should find a corresponding change 
in the moral and religious practice and belief of the time. 
The Renaissance brought with it, in fact, a great disregard 
of the Church, her claims, and her teachings. Many took 
the greatest delight in lampooning the Church and the 
clergy. Breaking away from her control and losing, ap- 
parently, all conception of right and wrong, they exhibited 
in their lives the most hideous vices and revelled in crime 
and wickedness. This was the classic period of Italian 
horrors. For awhile it was hoped that the humanists 
would bring about a reform of the Church. Erasmus, the 
greatest scholar of his time, based his hopes on the new 



Religious Tendencies in the Renaissance 267 

learning and its representatives, but it soon became appar- 
ent that the humanists lacked the moral earnestness neces- 
sary for such a work. 

The Renaissance, although beginning in Italy, soon The Renais- 
spread to the rest of Europe and everywhere showed the bg^Qi^gg a 
same vices and the same virtues as in its first home. In European 
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Germany, France, and '"°^^'"^" • 
England were under the influence of the spirit of the 
Renaissance. In Germany one group of humanists was 
clever and frivolous, while the other was serious and busied 
itself with the problems of educational and religious reforms. 
The court of Francis I. (1515-47) bore the stamp of the 
Renaissance, and in the French cities there were groups of 
earnest men and able scholars who drew their insj)i ration 
from the new learning. Richard III. of England, whom 
we abhor for his crimes, was a typical prince of the Renais- 
sance, practising the teachings of Machiavelli. Through 
the teachings of Colet, Grocyn, Linacre, More, and Eras- 
mus, Oxford became the centre of the movement in Eng- 
land. Shakespeare may be regarded as its culmination. 

The Renaissance, being essentially an age of revolt, 
accounts in part for the increasing dissatisfaction with the 
Church and the growing opposition to the papacy. But to 
understand the condition in which the papacy now found 
itself, it is necessary briefly to recount its history since the 
end of its struggle with the Hohenstaufen. The papacy, 
although victorious in its struggle with the empire, soon 
found itself in a worse plight than ever before. The empire 
was indeed no longer a menace to the independence of the National- 
papacy, but other and stronger foes had appeared to take the imiver- 
its place. There were the other countries of Europe with sal claims 
a rising sense of nationality, jealous of their independence, papacy 
and ever ready to resist the authority of the pope and to 
resent what seemed to them his interference in their affairs. 



268 The Medieval Period 

These national differences were felt even in the college of 

cardinals and it was difficult to secure a harmonious papal 

election. France was now the leading power of Europe, 

and her king was bent on using the pope for his own ends. 

Rome To render the situation more intolerable to the pope, the 

to the^ people of Rome, aspired to independence, and frequently 

popes. refused to permit the pope to dweil in Rome. Innocent 

IV. (1243-54) spent very little of his pontificate in the 

city; Alexander IV. (1254-61) was never there; Clement 

IV. (1265-68) lived in Perugia. Neither was the pope 

master in the rest of Italy. The larger cities, such as 

Florence, Venice, and Genoa, were the independent pos- 

The powers sessors of much territory. The French held southern Italy, 

oDDos/the ^^^^ Germans parts of northern Italy. Through the upris- 

papacy. ing of the Sicilians against the French, known as the Sicilian 

Vespers (1282), Peter III. of Aragon gained possession 

of the island, thus increasing the number of the political 

opponents of the pope. 

In 1294 Benedictus Cajetanus of Anagni was made pope, 
Boniface with the title of Boniface VIII. (i 294-1303). His pon- 
VIII., 1294- (-jf^cate marked the highest pretensions, and, at the same 

1303. 01 » ; 

time, proved the impotence of the papacy. In the famous 
bull, " Clericis Laicos," on pain of excommunication, he 
forbade all laymen to collect taxes on Church lands, and 
all clergymen to pay them. Since the Church was very 
rich in lands, if this bull had been enforced the income of 

Quarrel the state would have been greatly diminished. Philip IV. 

j^ ' *P of France, therefore, retaliated by foriiidding any money 

to be taken out of France into Italy, thus cutting off 
the pope's income. Boniface now yielded and tried to 
make peace with Philij) ; he said the bull was not to be 
enforced in France, and even granted Philip the tithe 
from the French clergy for three years. But the quarrel 
soon broke out again. Philip was determined to humiliate 



Religious Tendencies in the Renaissance 269 

the pope and to show his own mastery. He received at 
his court two members of the Colonna family, whom 
Boniface had exiled from Rome, and also seized and 
imprisoned the papal legate. Angered by this, Boniface 
sent forth one decree after another against Philip. A bull, 
" Unam Sanctam," was issued, which declared that the 
pope was entrusted with both the spiritual and temporal 
power, and that whoever resisted him was resisting the 
ordinance of God. Submission in temporal matters to 
the pope was declared to be necessary for salvation. At 
the same time Boniface threatened to depose Philip and 
put him under the ban if he would not yield. Philip, in 
another meeting of his council, preferred a large number 
of charges against Boniface, and called for a general coun- 
cil to settle the matter. Boniface then published the ban 
and edict of deposition, only to be besieged in Anagni a 
month later by the king's ambassador, William of Nogaret, 
and the Colonna family. He was personally maltreated, 
but set free a few days later, dying, however, the next 
month, probably from chagrin and anger caused by the 
indignities which had been heaped upon him. 

It was Boniface VHI. who celebrated the jubilee in The Jubilee 
1300, an event which stirred the minds and imaginations ^300. 
of the people at that time most deeply. During this cele- 
bration Boniface, it is said, gave expression to his claims 
by seating himself on the imperial throne, "arrayed with 
sword and crown and sceptre, shouting aloud, ' I am 
Caesar ! I am Emperor ! ' " 

His successor, Benedict H. (1303-4), was hard pressed 
by Philip IV., and at last withdrew all the demands of 
Boniface so far as France was concerned. For nearly a 
year after his death the cardinals could not agree on a can- Supremacy 
didate, but at length, through the intrigues of the French ?» prance 
king, the French party in the college elected the bishop of 



270 The Mediccval Period 

Bordeaux, who had already made a secret compact with 
Clement V. Phihp IV. He chose the name of Clement V. (1304-14). 
at Avignon, j^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ ^^gj^.^ ^^ phiijp, he moved the whole 

Curia to Avignon. Rome was no longer safe for him, 
the noble families of the city being constantly engaged in 
street brawls, and since the German emperors had lost their 
power there was no one to preserve order. The removal 
of the papacy to Avignon was a great misfortune, because it 
brought the pope more completely under the control of the 
French king. Philip found many subtle and effective ways 
of bringing pressure to bear on Clement V. , so that the 
unfortunate pope was compelled, against his will, to give 
aid to the king in his destruction of the order of Knights 
Templars. 
John XXII. His successor, John XXH., spent most of his time in a 
theemperon ^^"^'' struggle with Ludwig of Bavaria (1314-47) about 
the imperial crown and Italy. This struggle is marked by 
the appearance of a new theory of the state, promulgated 
by one branch of the Franciscans. They advanced the 
idea that the people are sovereign. " Church " meant the 
whole body of Christian believers, not, as the Roman Cath- 
olic Church said, the clergy alone. Even the laymen are 
all viri ecclcsiastici ; that is, they have a part in the gov- 
ernment of the Church. The highest authority is vested 
in a General Council. The papacy is not apostolic in its 
origin, but dates from the time of Constantine. The pope, 
therefore, has no authority over kings, and the state is in- 
dependent of him. These Franciscans, while jjroclaiming 
this heresy, were protected by Ludwig and assisted him in 
his struggle. Other writers, however, continued to develop 
a definite theory of the supremacy of the pope. 

During the residence of the popes at Avignon the finances 
of the papacy were systematized and everything was done 
to insure the collection of vast sums of money. This period 



Schism. 



Religions Tendencies in the Renaissance 271 

of the residence of the popes in Avignon is generally called 
by church historians the Babylonian Exile of the papacy. 

In 1378 the papal Schism began. Gregory XI. had The great 
finally, in 1377, moved the Curia back to Rome, but died 
the next year. Urban VI. (1378-89), who was elected in 
Rome, alienated by his harsh manner those cardinals who 
were under the influence of the French king; they conse- 
quently revolted from him, declared his election void, and 
elected Clement VII. (1378-94). Clement soon withdrew 
to Avignon and continued the papal line there, while Ur- 
ban VI. remained in Rome. There were now two men 
professing to be pope. Germany, England, Denmark, 
Sweden, and Poland declared for Urban ; France, Naples, 
Savoy, Scotland, Lorraine, Castile, and Aragon were true 
to Clement VII. For about thirty years there were two 
lines of popes, and the religious world did not know which 
one to obey. The Schismgave rise to the severest criticism 
of the papacy, and gave such men as Wyclif and Huss a ■ 
good opportunity to set forth doctrines at variance with 
those of the Church. 

Since neither pope would yield, and it seemed impossible 
to end the Schism in any other way, the idea of calling a 
universal Council was broached. It was declared that in the The 
early days of the Church a Council had been the highest 
authority. This position of authority had been usurped 
by the popes. Now let the Council be called, and, since it 
was competent to do so, let it say who was rightfully pope. 
After long discussion the cardinals called a Council to meet 
at Pisa (1409). This Council deposed the two popes, and 
elected Alexander V., but as the deposed popes refused to 
acknowledge the authority of the Council, there were now 
three popes and the Schism was made worse. Although 
Alexander V. had promised not to dismiss the Council un- 
til the papacy had been reformed, and its finances regu- 



Conciliar 
Idea. 



272 The Medic£val Period 



lated, he soon prorogued it because sufficient preparations 
had not been made to proceed with the reform. 

From this theory of the power of the Council over the 

pope this period has been called the conciliar epoch. It 

produced two more Councils, that of Constance and that 

Constance, of Basel. In Constance (1414) the question of the Schism 

^ ^' was again taken up. Every cardinal swore once more that, 

if elected, he would reform the Church before dismissing 

the Council. In 141 7 Martin V. was elected, after the 

three other popes had been deposed. The council was 

then ready to proceed with the reform, but those who were 

most dissatisfied and loudest in their demand for a reform 

were not agreed as to what changes should be made. 

Taking advantage of this, the pope soon dissolved the 

meeting. 

The Council The council of Basel (1431-49) served only to reveal 

o ase . ^i^g weakness of the reform party, since it could accomplish 

nothing. So from the time of Eugene IV. (1431-47) a 

new period may be said to have begun for the papacy. 

The popes The conciliar idea lost its power ; the popes were drawn 

rulers^^^*^^ into the political struggles of Italy, and were also imbued 

with the spirit of the Renaissance. During this time they 

present the aspect of temporal rulers. They lived in great 

magnificence, kept standing armies, made war on their 

enemies, and i)layed an important role in the politics and 

diplomacy of Europe as well as of Italy. 

Many pious souls were shocked at .such activity on the 
part of the Vicar of Christ and complained that while the 
popes were entangled in the affairs of this world they were 
neglecting their religious duties. Hostility to the popes as 
temporal ])rinces begot opposition and a spirit of resistance 
to their religious authority, and also led to a demand for a 
reform of the papacy. 

As Renaissance princes the popes became prominent 



Religions Tendencies in the Renaissance 2/3 



patrons of the arts and of learning. Nicholas V. (1447- 
55), known as the first of the Renaissance popes, was an 
extensive builder and an active patron of learning. His 
large collection of manuscripts served as the beginning of 
the Vatican library. He made himself master of the city 
by sternly putting down the last uprising of the seditious 
populace (1453). Alexander VI. (1492-1503), worthy 
scion of the family of the Borgias, and Julius H. (1503-13), 
because of their constant struggles were called war popes. 
Leo X. (1513-22) made Rome the centreof the artistic and 
literary life, and his pontificate was made glorious by coincid- 
ing with the culmination of the Renaissance. His patronage 
of Raffael would alone have secured his fame. To support 
their court with its immense number of secretaries, clerks, 
attendants, and servants, to maintain their troops, to pay 
for the huge buildings which they erected and for the paint- 
ings, statues, and other works of art in which they de- 
lighted, to buy manuscripts and books, to support the army 
of literary men who were in their service, to meet the ex- 
penses of their government, which had relations with all the 
governments of Europe, there was need of enormous sums 
of money every year. The popes put the world under 
contribution, levying taxes of various kinds and under dif- 
ferent names, so that gold flowed in streams from all lands 
toward Rome. This became another ground for complaint. 
The Germans, the French, and the English began to ask 
why they should be taxed to support the pope in luxury, 
to keep his armies in the field, and to pay for his works 
of art. 

There was, therefore, at the end of the fifteenth century, 
a widespread and profound dissatisfaction with the papacy. 
Here there was one ground of discontent, there another. 
Many voices from all quarters filled the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth centuries with calls for reform. To the observant 



Nicholas V. 



The Vatican 
library. 



Alexander 
VI., and 
Julius II., 
the war 
popes. 

Leo X. and 

the arts. 



The 

expenses 
of the papal 
court. 



Dissatisfac- 
tion por- 
tends revolt. 



274 The Mcdiccval Period 

there were many signs portending the great rebellion, ec- 
clesiastical and national, which was to usher in a new era. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. The State as a Work of Art. Burckhardt, Civilizaiion of the Renaissance 

in Italy. Pt. I. $4.00. Macmillan. More, Utopia. $0.10. Cassell. 
Machiavelli, Tlis Prince. 

2. The Revival OF Antiquity. Burckhardt, Pt. III. 

3. The New Society in the Renaissance. Burckhardt, Pt. IV. 

4. Architecture, Gothic AND Renaissance. Hamlin. $2.00. Longmans. 
The principal artists of the period may also be used as special topics. 

Good accounts of them are found in the "Biographies of Artists" 
series. $1.25 each. Scribner. 



PART II 

THE MODERN PERIOD 



THE MODERN PERIOD 



INTRODUCTION 

The task before us in this new division of our work is The Modern 

to follow the development of Europe through the Modern "^''^^^ °^" 

' ^ ^ gins approx- 

Period. The Modern Period is, like the Medieval Period, imatelywith 
no sharply defined section of history, with a fixed beginning ^JLI^^^ 
and a fixed end, but a division serving to denote, in a gen- 
eral way, the prevalence of certain tendencies in the life of 
man. It was during the Transition Period of the Renais- 
sance (1300- 1 500) that the distinctively modern tenden- 
cies became rooted in civilization, and it is by the end of 
the Renaissance, and, therefore, at approximately the year 
1500, that we may fix the beginning of the Modern 
Period. 

Now, before we take up the study of Europe in the Mod- The prelim- 
ern Period, let us rapidly draw together the threads of the ['1^^ inven- 
story which we have thus far followed. This can be best 
done under three heads : 

A. The leading factors of the civilization of the Renais- 
sance. 

B. The voyages of discovery. 

C. The European states at the beginning of the Modern 
Period. 

The ordering of our facts under these three heads ought 
to provide us with a convenient inventory of the European 
situation at the beginning of our period. 

277 



278 The Modem Period 



A. THE LEADING FACTORS OF THE CIVH-IZATION OF THE 

RENAISSANCE. 

It was during the Renaissance that civiHzation lost its 
distinctive mediaeval forms and acquired those characteris- 
tics which we call modern. The leading agencies in this 
process are once more rapidly enumerated : 

(i) T/ie Revival of Learning. — First in Italy, and later 
in the countries of the north, men began to get interested 
in the long-forgotten literature and art of Greece and Rome. 
By patient labor they excavated, as it were, the buried 
culture of antiquity, and added it to their meagre medieval 
stock. Thus the medi^'eval man became gradually better 
equipped to do man's work in the world, and soon engaged 
in intellectual investigations of Avhich he had been formerly 
either incapable or afraid. Learning had been confined to 
things appertaining to religion ; it was now extended to all 
things appertaining to man. 

(2) The Revival of Industry and Commeree. — A re- 
markable feature of the later medieval centuries was the 
growth of the cities. They developed a flourishing industry 
and commerce, and, sheltered by their walls from the dep- 
redations of the country barons, became so many hearths in 
plain and valley of political order and material well-being. 
We have seen how the Crusades were instrumental in ex- 
tending the range of western trade and manufacture, and 
we have seen how in consequence of them the Mediterranean 
became the great highway of international trafific. Al- 
though Venice and Genoa and the other Italian cities were 
the first to draw an advantage from this situation, the north- 
ern cities on the English Channel and the North and Baltic 
Seas felt ere long the new commercial stimulus. The nations 
of Europe were thus being continually drawn more closely 



Introduction 279 



together, and were mutually profiting from this closeness, 
when, during the Renaissance, a number of hardy seamen 
opened up by their voyages of discovery new commercial 
prospects of a brilliance far beyond anything the Mediter- 
ranean had known. The voyages of discovery must be 
reckoned in their effects among the most far-reaching of the 
events which usher in the Modern Age, and are, in fact, so 
important that we reserve them for special treatment later on. 

(3) T/ie Itiventio)is. — The introduction of gunpowder 
(fourteenth century) altered entirely the conditions of war. 
The superiority of the mounted knight over the foot-soldier 
was thereby destroyed. Thus, through its loss of importance 
in the military field to which, during the Middle Age, it 
owed its political preeminence, the feudal order of nobles 
received an irreparable injury. A standing army of mer- 
cenaries was found by a ruler to be both more serviceable 
and more reliable than a self-willed aristocracy. The king 
in consequence began to emancipate himself from the con- 
trol of his nobles. The invention of printing,' by multi- 
plying books, made culture accessible to the many, and 
ideas, hitherto the privilege of the priest and noble, began 
to throw their light into the dark and brutal lives of the 
lower orders. 

(4) The Growth of Absolutism. — The social changes 
consequent upon the decay of the nobles and the growth of 
the cities involved also a political revolution. If in the 
Middle Age the nobles had been the dominant political 
factor, it was, first, becau.se they formed the army, and, 
secondly, because the one great source of wealth in that 
period, the land, was in their possession. In the Modern 
Period, owing to the invention of gunpowder, they were 
no longer necessary for the army, and land, owing to the 



' Ascribed to John Gutenberg of Mainz, 1450. 



28o The Modern Period 

growth of the cities, fell from its i)osition of sole source of 
wealth. I'he king and the cities, who had a common en- 
emy in the nobility, soon found themselves strong enough 
to unseat their rival from his place of power. Gradually 
the king began to absorb the political powers of the nobil- 
ity. Thus the feudal state, in which the power was dis- 
tributed among the members of an aristocracy, decayed, 
and in its place arose the absolute monarchy, with the power 
concentrated in one man. 



B. THE VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AND THE EUROPEAN 
COLONIZATION OF THE NEW WORLD. 

The direc- The voyages of discovery were natural consequences 

S^an'sh and *'^ ^'^^ expansion of commerce which followed in the wake 
the Portu- of the Crusades. The trade with the Levant, which had 
fnwf^pc rapidly made Genoa and Venice rich, naturally aroused 

the cupidity of their neighbors, and in the fifteenth century 
the Spaniards and Portuguese undertook to find a highway 
to the east other than the Mediterranean. Their endeavors 
in this enterprise led to all the subsequent discoveries. The 
heroes of this chapter of human progress are therefore gen- 
erally Spaniards and Portuguese, or Italians in the service 
of these nations. The Portuguese travellers were mainly 
governed by the idea of finding a sea-passage to India' by 
sailing around Africa ; they pushed eastward. Tlie Span- 
ish mariners sought to discover a sea-passage to India by 
circumnavigating the globe; they pushed westward. Each 
of these series of undertakings was accompanied by marvel- 
lous successes, and each had a unique climax. 

The Portuguese were the first people to take up the work 



' India, in the fifteenth century, was a collective name for the whole 
Orient. 



Introduction 281 



of discovery systematically, and among them it was a 
prince of their royal house, Prince Henry, ^ the Navigator Vasco da 
(1394-1460), who holds the honor of having set the Tmi a 
nation upon this path. Passionately fond of nautical 
matters, he voluntarily exiled himself from the court and 
took up his residence on a promontory of Cape Vincent, 
directing from that vantage-point the voyages of his sea- 
men. But he was inspired also by other motives, for he 
had not only a deep-seated love of knowledge, but also a 
patriotic desire to win a new empire for his nation and the 
fervent hope of spreading the Christian faith among the 
heathen. Gradually his mariners pushed down the west 
coast of Africa. Although the magnetic needle was known 
to them, they did not well understand the use of it, and, 
fearful of the unknown, crept along at snail's pace. Before 
even the equator was crossed (1484) Prince Henry had 
died. In i486, Bartholomew Diaz at last reached the 
Cape of Good Hope, but it was not until 1498 that this 
advantage was followed up by a journey round the Cape to 
India. The hero of this momentous voyage, which estab- 
lished a connection with the orient far more convenient 
and commercially profitable than any Venice commanded, 
was Vasco da Gama. 

Just before Vasco da Gama had thus set the crown on 
the Portuguese endeavors of a century, Christopher Colum- 
bus -^ had succeeded in a discovery even more important. 
In the year 1492, while seeking a westward passage to Columbus 
India, he reached the Bahamas and West Indies, and thus ^" • 
first demonstrated to the world the existence of land be- 
yond the Atlantic. Columbus was by birth an Italian of 
the city of Genoa, but he made his voyage in the employ- 
ment of Isabella, the queen of Castile, and therefore the 



' Consult Beazley : Prince Henry. Putnam. 

'^ Consult, on Columbus, Fiske : Discovery of America. Houghton. 



282 The Modern Period 

profits of it fell to Si)ain.^ It should be noted that the 
journey would never have been undertaken by Columbus, 
if the contemporary scholars, abandoning the ignorant 
notions of the Middle Age, had not returned to the classi- 
cal conception that the world was round. But the brill- 
iancy of Columbus's achievement is in no respect dimmed 
by this circumstance, for the patience, energy, and enthu- 
siasm that made the voyage possible were unexampled and 
were all his own. 
The fever of In consequence of these triumphs discovery became a 
Matrelian passion, especially among the Spaniards and the Portuguese. 
Where fame and wealth so amply rewarded the successful, 
every adventurer's soul felt a personal summons to strike 
out into the new and unknown realms. No period of his- 
tory is so astir with action and enterpri.se, so illumined by 
the purple light of romance. Of course every voyage 
added to the store of the world's knowledge, but of all the 
later expeditions, the one which, by virtue of its boldness 
and its results, may claim a place beside those of Colum- 
bus and Vasco da Gama, is the famous first circumnaviga- 
tion of the globe. This remarkable triumph was achieved 
by a Portuguese in the Spanish service, Magellan,'-^ after a 
succession of incredible hardships lasting three years 
(1519-1522). 



Magellan. 



' It is highly probable that the Norsemen tliscovered America before 
Columbus. But their discovery was without result. Columbus sailed on 
his voyage August 3, 1492, from Palos, with three small ships — the Santa 
Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. He landed on San Salvador (Guana- 
hani) Octoljer 12. Cuba and Hayti were also discovered upon this voy- 
age. Upon his return his sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isnliella, loaded 
him with honors (hereditary nobility, admiralty, etc.). He followed up 
his first voyage with three more voyages ; second voyage (1493-96), on 
which he discovered Jamaica ; third voyage (1498-1500), on which he first 
touched upon the continent of South America at the mouth of the Ori- 
noco. It was from this voyage that he, the great benefactor of .Spain, 
w.as brought back to Spain in chains. On his fourth voyage (1502-4) he 
landed on the coast of Honduras. He died, 1506, near Valladolid, be- 
lieving to the last that he had reached India. 

'•' Magellan did not himself complete the voyage. He was killed on 
one of the Philippine Islands, 1521. 



introduction 283 



One of the most notable facts in connection with the The world 
voyages of discovery was that the Europeans were not satis- °i^'<^^" °^' 
fied with a mere acquaintance with the new countries or Portugal 
with opening up new markets for the home traders ; they ^ i^pain. 
also resolved to Christianize, govern, and colonize their dis- 
coveries ; in a word, they resolved to refashion them as 
a larger Europe. Naturally the zeal for colonial expansion, 
which almost immediately rose to extravagant proportions, 
led to shameless land-grabbing, and soon to quarrels among 
the rival nations. Spain and Portugal, the leaders in the 
movement, were the first to become involved in difficulties 
with one another, and their disputes brought about a 
famous intervention by pope Alexander VI. (Borgia). In 
the fifteenth century the pope, as Christ's Vicar, was still 
regarded as the peacemaker, the best arbiter of quarrels 
arising among the Christian flock. Upon being appealed 
to by Spain and Portugal for a settlement of their rival 
claims, he drew (1493) a line of demarcation, first one 
hundred leagues, and later three hundred and seventy 
leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, and gave all the 
land to be discovered east of this line to Portugal, all west 
of it to Spain. This line of demarcation, which cut 
through the eastern part of South America, gave Spain a 
claim to the whole of the New World with the exception 
of what is now Brazil. 

At the beginning of the fifteenth century the chief The centres 

centres of Spanish colonization were: (i) The West ° i^J?f"*^ 
'■ ^ ^ coloniza- 

India group, whither Columbus himself had first directed tion. 
the stream of emigration ; (2) Mexico, which was won for 
the Spaniards by the great conqueror, Cortez ; and (3) 
Peru, which was acquired by Pizarro. The plain facts of 
these two last-named conquests constitute an unequalled 
romance in which courage, religious enthusiasm, cruelty, 
and lust of gold contend with each other for supremacy. 



284 ^^^^ Modern Period 

The Portu- The Portuguese travellers, who followed in the wake of 

guese colo- Vasco da Gama, soon undertook, after the fashion of Spain, 
nies. ' . ^ 

to bind to the home country by means of colonies the coun- 
tries which they had discovered in the Indian Ocean. The 
chain of colonies, which they had been engaged for some 
time in establishing along the west coast of Africa, was grad- 
ually extended to the East Indian Archipelago, to India 
proper, and Farther India. The Portuguese, who were not 
a numerous people, never succeeded in settling these coun- 
tries with their own race in such force as to supplant the 
native element. They themselves understood this difficulty 
before long, and thereafter were satisfied with merely occu- 
pying advance-posts here and there, and with trying to se- 
cure by treaties exclusive trade-privileges with the peoples 
among whom they settled. With Brazil, their one posses- 
sion in the western world, the case was different. This 
country they succeeded in winning for their nation, and it 
has remained Portuguese in tongue and manners to this 
day. 

The northern European countries entered late, and with 
only gradually increasing fervor, into the contest for the 
possession of the new continents. The little which Henry 
VII. of England did to secure for his country a share in the 
great extension of the world is of importance only by rea- 
son of consequences which he did not remotely foresee. In 
1497, Henry, jealous of Portugal and Spain, at last equipped 
The English and sent westward one John Cabot, who was, like Co- 
voyages, lumbus, a Genoese by birth. Cabot's purpose, as well as 
that of many English mariners after him, was to discover 
still another passage, a passage by the waters of the north- 
west, to the oriental fairy-land, India, and by this means to 
elude the Spaniards, who were pushing for this same India 
by following a southwesterly course. The attempts of Cabot 
were destined to failure, but England by means of them 



Introduction 285 



secured at least a vague claim to the northeastern coast of 
America. This claim, after being allowed to lie forgotten 
for a period, was revived during the reign of Elizabeth, and 
led, in the progress of time, to the foundation of the English 
colonies of North America. 

The French were even more lax than the English in the The French 
matter of colonization, and it was not until the reign of *"° °"*^^* 
Henry IV. (1589-1610) that they remembered that an 
empire was being divided without consideration of them- 
selves. They then hastened to undo as far as possible the 
consequence of their neglect by settlements in Canada, 
and, later, in Louisiana — that is, in the St. Lawrence and 
Mississippi basins. 

The Dutch owed their colonies to the long war of inde- The Dutch 
pendence which they waged with the king of Spain. In <^°'°"*^^' 
1580 Portugal, as will be seen hereafter, was temporarily 
incorporated with Spain, the Portuguese colonies, in con- 
sequence of this act, becoming Spanish. The Dutch there- 
upon began to take away from the king of Spain both the 
Portuguese and the Spanish East-India trade and territory. 
This fact explains why the centre of the Dutch trade and 
colonial territory lies to this day in the Indian Ocean. 



C. THE EUROPEAN STATES AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 
MODERN PERIOD. 

The Empire. 

At the opening of the Modern Period Maximilian I. The consti- 
(1493-15 1 9). of the House of Hapsburg, was the head of Germany, 
the Holy Roman Empire, which, once universal, had been 
practically reduced to the territory of Germany. The 
family of Hapsburg had grown so powerful in the fifteenth 
century that the German crown had almost become its her- 



286 TJic Modern Period 

editary possession. Theoretically, however, the crown was 
still elective. On the death of an emperor, a successor 
could be legally chosen only by the seven electors, who 
were the seven greatest princes of the realm. ^ The seven 
electors, the lesser princes (including the higher ecclesiasti- 
cal dignitaries, such as bishops and abbots), and the free 
cities, ranged in three separate houses, composed the im- 
perial Diet. The Diet was the legislative body of the Em- 
pire, without the consent of which the emperor could not 
perform any important act. Emperor and Diet together 
constituted the imperial government, if machinery as de- 
crepit as the machinery of the empire had come to be, may 
be qualified by that name. In fact, the national govern- 
ment of Germany was little more than a glorious memory. 
Germany had not, like France, England, and Spain, ad- 
vanced steadily in the later Middle Age toward national 
unity, but had steadily travelled in the opposite direction, 
and lost her coherence. The numerous princes, margraves, 
counts, prince-bishops, and free cities, constituting the 
so-called " estates " of the medieval feudal realm, had ac- 
quired a constantly increasing independence of the central 
power, and had reduced the emperor to a puppet.^ 
The The greatest interest attaching to Maximilian's reign is 

refornis^of connected with the circumstance that under him the last 
Maximilian, serious attempt was made to remodel the antiquated ma- 
chinery of the imperial government. In the latter half of 
the fifteenth century something like a wave of national en- 
thusiasm had swept over Germany, and beginning with the 



' Of these seven electors three were ecclesiastical dignitaries and four 
were lay princes. The seven were : the archbishops of Mainz, of Co- 
logne, and of Trier (Treves), the king of Bohemia, the dul<c of Saxony, 
the margrave of Brandenburg, and the count palatine of the Rhine. 

^ There were at this time about three hundred of these local govern- 
ments, some, like Saxony and Brandenburg, large enough to be respect- 
able, others as circumscrilied as an American township. Germany was 
visibly verging toward a time when she would be decomposed, in fact 
and in law, into three hundred independent states. 



Introduction 287 



Diet of Worms of 1495, a number of Diets met to discuss 
measures of reform. The result was a miserable disappoint- 
ment; for what was done did not effect any substantial 
change in the position of the central authority, the em- 
peror. Such reform as was carried out limited itself to 
the establishment of the greater internal security of the 
realm. The right of private warfare, the most insuffer- 
able survival of feudal times, was abolished, a perpetual 
peace proclaimed, and to support this peace there was 
instituted a special court of justice, the Imperial Cham- 
ber (Reichskammergericht), to which all conflicts be- 
tween the estates of the realm had to be referred for amica- 
ble adjustment. This is the largest measure of reform 
which the local governments in control of the Diet would, 
out of jealousy of the central government, concede. The 
emperor was left as before without an income, without any 
administrative functions, and without an army. He was 
and remained, as long as the Holy Roman Empire continued 
to exist, a poor lay-figure, draped for merely scenic purposes 
in the mantle of royalty. If we hear of powerful emperors 
in the future (Charles V., for instance), we shall discover 
that they owed their power, never to the empire, but always 
to the force which they derived from their hereditary lands. 
Maximilian, sometimes called the last knight, was a kind, The 

generous man, who might have been spared the various mis- "^-PS/Jurg 
° ... marriages, 

fortunes of his life if he had not taken the empire and its Charles V., 

threadbare splendors seriously. He tried to make good greatest 

the ancient imperial claims to part of Italy, and naturally Europe. 

met with derision ; he tried to unite Europe against the 

Turks, who had overrun the east (fall of Constantinople, 

1453) and Avere moving westward up the Danube and 

along the Mediterranean, but he could not even influence 

his own Germans to a national war of defence. However, a 

number of matrimonial bargains richly compensated Max- 



288 The Modern Period 

imilian for his many political disappointments. In the year 
1477 he married Mary of Burgundy, the only child of 
Charles the Bold and the heiress of the Netherlands, and in 
1496 his son Philip was united to Joan of Castile, heiress 
of Ferdinand and Isabella, first joint rulers of United Spain. 
Philip dying and Joan becoming insane, their son Charles 
was proclaimed, first, duke of Burgundy, and, later, on the 
death of Ferdinand (1516), king of Spain. Finally, when 
the emperor Maximilian died (15 19), Charles fell heir also 
to Austria, and soon after was elected, in consequence of 
his great position, to succeed his grandfather in the empire. 
Thus Charles V. became, chiefly owing to the politic 
matches of Maximilian, the greatest monarch of his day. 

Italy. 

Italy, at the end of the Middle Age, had fallen into even 
worse confusion than Germany, for the very semblance of 
national unity had been abandoned. There were upon the 
The five peninsula five leading states : the duchy of Milan, the re- 

itafpc^ public of Venice, the republic of Florence, the states of the 

Church, and the kingdom of Naples. During the fifteenth 
century the five leading states had been constantly engaged 
in wars among themselves. These wars did no great harm 
until it occurred to the kings of Spain and France to turn 
the local divisions of Italy to their personal advantage. 
Spain, at the end of the fifteenth century, already possessed 
the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, and its royal House was 
closely related to the ruling House of Naples. Through 
these connections Spain acquired an active interest in Ital- 
ian affairs. Unfortunately for Italy, France also became 
interested in Italian affairs, when upon the death of the 
last Anjou (1481),' such rights as the Anjou possessed to 



states. 



' The Anjou were a secondnry branch of the royal House of France, 
and had an old claim to the kingdom of Naples. 



Introduction 289 



Naples were transferred to the king of France. Charles 
Vni. of France resolved on his accession to make good his 
claims upon Naples by force, and in 1494 he made his famous 
invasion of Italy. Spain being, of course, unable to per- 
mit without opposition the extension of France, there be- 
gan in consequence that contest between the two rivals for 
the possession of Italy which lasted for over fifty years and 
ended in the complete victory of Spain. At the beginning 
of our period this result was not yet apparent. But within 
a few years after the outbreak of the French-Spanish wars, 
the states of Italy, overrun and plundered by superior 
forces, commenced to exhibit material alterations in their 
political status. 

Naples. — If Naples, as it was the first, had remained the 
only source of quarrel between France and Spain, peace 
might soon have been re-established. For, after having 
been traversed again and again by French and Spanish 
troops, the kingdom of Naples was definitely ceded by Naples 
France to Spain (1504), of which it was destined to re- Soa^n'^^i<;o/ 
main a part for two hundred years (till the Treaty o^ 
Utrecht, 1713). Unfortunately, a second bone of con- 
tention between the two great western monarchies was 
found in the duchy of Milan. 

Milan. — The duchy of Milan was legally a fief of the 
Holy Roman Empire, but was held at this time in practi- 
cally independent possession by the family of the Sforza. Struggle 

When Charles VIII. of France died in 1498, Louis XII., between 

^^ ' ' France and 

his successor, remembered that he was a descendant of a Spain for 

family, the Visconti, who had ruled in Milan before the ^^e posses- 
-' ' ' sion of 

Sforza. On the strength of this vague priority, Louis re- Milan, 
solved to supplant the Sforza upstart. Having invaded and 
conquered Milan in 1499, he held that city successfully 
until there was formed against him the Holy League, 
composed of the pope, Venice, Spain, and England (15 12). 



290 The Modern Period 

The Holy League quickly succeeded in driving the French 
out of Italy and in reinstating the Sforza family in their 
duchy. Louis XIL died in 1515, without having recon- 
quered Milan, but his successor, Francis I., immediately 
upon his accession, marched his army off to Italy to try in 
his turn the fortunes of war and conquest. His brilliant vic- 
tory of Marignano (15 15) again put the French in posses- 
sion of Milan. For a short time now there was peace 
between France and Spain ; but naturally the Spaniards 
saw with envy the extension of French influence over the 
north of Italy, and when Charles, king of Spain, was elected 
emperor in 1519, the necessary pretext for renewing the 
war with France was given into his hands. It has already 
been said that Milan was legally a fief of the empire. 
In his capacity of emperor, Charles could find a ready jus- 
tification for interfering in the affairs of his dependency. 
Immediately upon his election he resolved to challenge the 
right of the French to Milan, and so the French-Spanish 
wars in Italy were renewed. 
Venice Venice. — In the fifteenth century Venice was the strong- 

^aS^^ *° est of all the Italian states. She called herself a republic, 
but was more truly an oligarchy, the power lying in the 
hands of the nobles who composed the Great Council and 
elected the chief dignitary, the doge or duke. The power 
of Venice was due to her immense trade and possessions in 
the orient.^ In addition to these colonial territories she 
held the whole northeastern portion of Italy. The Renais- 
sance is the period of the glory of Venice ; at the beginning 
of the Modern Period that glory was already rapidly wan- 
ing. The first obstacle to the continued prosperity of 
Venice was the Turks. The Turks, having begun their ir- 
resistil)le march through western Asia and eastern Europe, 



decay. 



' She held the Morea, Candia, Cyprus, and most of the islands of the 
iEgean and Ionian Seas. 



Introduction 291 



unsparingly wrenched from Venice, bit by bit, her oriental 
trade and possessions. The second misfortune which befell 
Venice was the discovery, by Vasco da Gama, of the sea 
passage to India around the Cape of Good Hope. This 
discovery, by drawing off the oriental commerce to Spain 
and Portugal, struck a fatal blow at Venetian prosperity. 
Thus decline set in, but nevertheless the republic continued 
to live in some fashion or other till Napoleon made an end 
of it in the year 1797. 

Florence. — The republic of Florence, far-famed in the 
period of the Renaissance for its great artists and writers, 
had, in the fifteenth century, lost its free constitution, and 
fallen under the domination of a native family, the Medici Florence 
(Lorenzo the Magnificent, the greatest of the line, ruled the Medici° 
from 1469 to 1492). But in spite of the Medici the love 
for the republic remained enshrined in the hearts of the 
people. When, therefore, the invasion of Charles VIII. 
(1494) offered a chance to cast off the Medicean yoke, the 
people rose, banished their tyrants, and re-established the 
republic. Girolamo Savonarola, a pious monk, who had, Savonarola. 
through his stirring invectives against the general corrup- 
tion of manners, acquired a great following, became the 
popular hero and leader, and for four years controlled the 
government, and labored at the reform of morals. During 
the period of Savonarola's supremacy, Florence presented 
to her astonished contemporaries, who dwelt upon the free 
heights of the pagan Renaissance, the picture of a narrow 
Biblical theocracy. But in 1498 Savonarola's enemies 
compassed his overthrow and burned him at the stake. For 
a few more years the republic went on as best it could, 
until in 15 12 the Medici reconquered the city. In 1527 
the Florentines made a last attempt to regain their liberties. 
Again they cast the Medici out, but again the banished 
princes returned, this time with the help of Charles V., 



292 The Modern Period 

(1529), who now honored the head of the Medicean 
House, Alexander, by conferring upon him and his heirs 
Florence and her territory under the name of the duchy 
(later the grand duchy) of Tuscany, 
The States The States of the Church, — During the period of the Re- 

Church ac- naissance, the popes, becoming pagan like the rest of the 
quire soli- world, sacrificed every principle to the desire of being 
brilliant secular princes. Their dominant aspiration was 
to consolidate the territory of the Church. This territory, 
running across the middle of the jieninsula, formed an ex- 
tensive possession, but had fallen in large part into the 
hands of petty tyrants. Pope Alexander VI. (1492-1503) 
of the family of Borgia, infamous for his murders and ex- 
cesses, has the merit of having carried the papal policy to 
a successful issue. Through the unscrupulous agency of 
his son Caesar Borgia, the petty tyrants of the papal states 
were either poisoned or assassinated. Thus at last the 
pope became master in the hereditary dominion of St. 
Peter. 

Alexander VI. was followed by two popes, w^ho, if they 
are not great spiritual lights, have nevertheless interesting 
personalities. They are Julius II. (1503-13) and Leo X. 
(15 13-21), the latter a member of the famous Florentine 
family of the Medici. Both of these popes will always be 
remembered for their splendid patronage of the arts.^ It 
was during the papacy of Leo X., whose interests were 
literary, artistic, social, in short everything but religious, 
and whose nature and associations inclined him to a pagan 
conception of life, that there was raised in Germany the 
cry for reform which led to the Protestant schism. 

Savoy. — In northwestern Italy, on the border of France, 
lay among the Alps the duchy of Savoy. At the beginning 
of the Modern Period the duke of Savoy was not yet an 

> Church of St. Peter begun ; Michel Angclo and Raftaelle at Rome. 



Introduction 293 



influential power. But during the next centuries he grew 
stronger and stronger through perseverance and hardihood, 
until finally his power surpassed that of any other prince of 
Italy. In our own century the House of Savoy has become 
the royal house of united Italy. 

France 

Under Charles VII. (1422-61) and Louis XI. (1461- The unifica- 

8-?) France had lost her old feudal character and become an U°" 
•^^ France. 

absolute monarchy. The great dukes and counts had been 
forced into submission to the will of the king. The king 
had become master ; he had secured himself a revenue 
over which he had free disposal (through a land-tax called 
taille) and he had created a standing army, which was at 
his and not at the nobles' orders. Louis XL also added 
to France several outlying provinces, which were neces- 
sary to the completion of the nation. These were Prov- 
ence in the southeast and the duchy of Burgundy in the 
east. When his son Charles VIII. (1483-98) acquired 
Brittany in the northwest, the process of the unification of 
France may be said to have been completed. Being now 
united within under the constitution of the absolute king, she 
was also strong to act against external foes. Under these cir- 
cumstances Charles VIII. could afford to turn his thoughts 
to foreign conquest, and burning with ambition, under- 
took to conquer Naples on the strength of certain inher- 
ited claims, and invaded Italy (1494). But his policy of 
foreign conquest incited the hostility of his jealous neigh- 
bor Spain, and led to the great French-Spanish wars for 
the possession of Italy, which lasted, with occasional in- 
terruptions, for fifty years. The review of Italy has ac- 
quainted us with the early stages of this conflict. Charles 
VIII. , after a brief triumph, was forced to give up Naples. 



294 



The Modern Period 



The unifica- 
tion of 
bpain. 



The expan- 
sion of 
Spain. 



Finally it was ceded to Ferdinand of Spain (1504). Louis 
XII. of France (1498-15 15) renewed the struggle in Italy 
by laying hold of the duchy of Milan, and though he was 
forced to give up Milan in 1512 (the Holy League), his 
successor, Francis I. (1515-47), immediately reconquered 
it by the victory of Marignano (15 15). 

Spain 

The movement toward national unity and absolutism, 
just observed in France, is no less characteristic of the po- 
litical development, during the fifteenth century, of Spain. 
The unity of Spain, after having made steady progress for 
some centuries, was finally .secured by the marriage of Fer- 
dinand (1479-15 16) and Isabella (1474-1504), who were 
the heirs respectively of the two largest Christian kingdoms 
on the peninsula, Aragon and Castile. Both of these king- 
doms had grown strong by chanii)ioning the national cause 
against the Moors, who had, in the Middle Age, overrun 
the peninsula. In the year 1492 Granada, the last foot- 
hold of the Moors, was captured, and therewith the Mo- 
hammedan power in Spain, which had lasted for eight cen- 
turies, came to an end. 

The unification of Spain inaugurated a period of terri- 
torial expansion which is unparalleled in history. In the 
same year in which the Moorish kingdom fell, Columbus 
discovered America, and opened up to Spain the vast do- 
minion of the new world. Next Ferdinand, upon being 
drawn into war with France on account of the conquest of 
Naples by Charles VIII., succeeded in beating the French 
and seizing the kingdom of Naples for himself (1504). In 
15 1 2 he further acquired that part of the border-kingdom 
of Navarre which lay upon the Spanish slope of the Py- 
renees. Thus it happened that when Ferdinand was suc- 
ceeded upon his death by his grandson, Charles (1516-56), 



Introduction 295 



this young king found himself master of the most extensive 

territories of the world. Although Charles was, merely by 

virtue of his position as king of Spain, the leading sovereign 

of Europe, he had additional interests and resources as ruler 

of the Netherlands and archduke of Austria, which raised 

him far above any rival. Finally in 15 19, the electors of 

the empire made him emperor. 

The growth of the royal power had meanwhile kept pace Absolutism 

with the extension of Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella, with f^^ *^?,. 

. . ' Inquisition, 

the aid of the cities, put down the robber-knights, and thus 

secured the peace of the land. Then the monarchs turned 
their attention to the nobility. The feudal Parliament of 
Castile (called Cortes) was first restricted in its influence, 
and then robbed of all importance. The Parliament of 
Aragon held out a little longer against the royal encroach- 
ments. But the act which more than any other registered 
the extension of the central power was the introduction of 
the Inquisition for the persecution of heretics and of ene- 
mies of the government — that is, of Jews, Moors, and, 
later, Protestants. How severely this organization inter- 
preted its task is witnessed by the fact that during the 
reign of the first Grand Inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada 
(1483-98), about 10,000 persons were burned alive, 
6,000 burned in efiigy, and 90,000 condemned to ecclesi- 
astical and civil penalties. 

England 

England passed in the fifteenth century through the 

great domestic crisis known as the War of the Roses. But 

the end came in 1485, when Richard III., the last king The end of 

of the House of York, was defeated and killed at the battle ^^^ War of 

the RosGs. 
of Bosworth. The victor, himself of the House of Tudor, 

but at the same time a descendant of the House of Lan- 
caster, succeeded to the throne as Henry VII. (1485- 



296 The Modern Period 

1509). Through the marriage of Henry VII. to Eliza- 
beth, a daughter of the House of York, the new House of 
Tudor united the claims of both contending houses, and 
thus the civil war came at length to an end. 

The Under Henry VII., an extremely cautious and politic 

** stronsT 

monarchy" nian, there grew up in England the "strong Tudor mon- 

of Henry archy. " Traditionally, the power in England lay in the 
hands of the king and the Parliament, composed of the 
two Houses of the Lords and the Commons. However, 
absolutism was in the air at the time, as is witnessed by the 
cases of France and Spain. By following a consistent 
policy, Henry succeeded in making the English monarchy, 
too, almost absolute. He did this, first, by lessening the 
authority of the turbulent nobility. He forbade them to 
keep armed and liveried retainers, thus depriving them of 
their military power, and by means of the Star Chamber 
court of justice, dependent on himself, he kept watch over 
them and punished them for all infringements of the public 
law. Secondly, by raising money irregularly through fines 
and forced loans, he became independent of the regular 
taxes which the Parliament alone could vote, and thus Avas 
enabled to get along, to a large extent, without calling the 
Parliament together. Of Henry's various measures the 
result was the pacification of the realm. England would 
now have fallen as completely into the hands of her sover- 
eign as France had done, if it had not been for that saving 
law upon her statute-books that the king could raise no 
taxes without the consent of Parliament. This provision 
neither Henry VII. nor any of his successors dared abro- 
gate, and in the course of time, when the common people 
had acquired wealth and dignity, it became the weapon by 
which the "strong monarchy" was struck to the ground 
and Parliament set in the monarch's place. 



SECTION I 

THE REFORMATION AND THE WARS OF RELIGION; 
FROM LUTHER TO THE PEACE OF WEST- 
PHALIA (1517-1648) 

The reason for setting off the century and a half which 
lie between Luther and the Peace of Westphalia as a 
separate section of Modern History, lies partly in conven- 
ience — as is the case with all historical divisions — and 
partly in the fact that this section has an unmistakable 
unity. This unity is furnished by the circumstance that 
throughout its length there remains fixed in the foreground 
of public interest the question of the Reformation. A new 
faith is born, it attempts to secure for itself legal recogni- 
tion from the various governments, and the various govern- 
ments are all perplexed with the problem how to adjust 
themselves to the novel creation. Anger and irritation are 
followed by wars, and, after much bloodshed, the worst 
sting is taken out of the rivalry of Catholicism and Prot- 
estantism by the at least partial adoption in the Peace of 
, Westphalia of the principle of mutual toleration. 



297 



298 



The Modern Period 



CHAPTER XVIII 



The rising 
protest 
against the 
Church. 



The Re- 
naissance 
in the south 
and in the 
north. 



THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY TO THE PEACE 

OF AUGSBURG (1555) 

LITERATURE.— Johnson, Europe in the Shtccnth Century, pp. 106-252. 
$1.75. Macmillan. 
Visher, ffistcry 0/ the Re/ormation, pp. Zs-iti- $2.50. Scribner. 

FtouAc, Li/e and Letters 0/ Erasmus. $1.50. Scribner. 

Emerton, Erasmus. $1.50. Putnam. 

KostXin, Li/e 0/ Ltiiher. $2.50. Scribner. 

Jacobs, Martin Luther. $1.50. Putnam. 

Richard, Melaticthon. $1.50. Putnam. 

Whitcomb, Source-Book of the Gertnan Renaissance. Univ. of Penn. 

$1.25. Translations and Reprints. University of Penn. Vol. II., 

No. 6. 

Thk rising protest against the Catholic Church has been 
discussed in tlie chapter on the Renaissance. To sum- 
marize once more what was there said, the hostihty to the 
Church was due to the excessive taxes, powers, and privi- 
leges of the Church, to the corrupt manners and practices 
of the clergy, and to the larger and more intelligent views 
of life which were made popular among the cultivated classes 
by the Renaissance and the Revival of Learning. 

Tlie movement of the Renaissance we discovered to 
have originated in Italy. From Italy it spread to the 
north, but took there an altogether different form, for, 
whereas in Italy it led to an unparalleled artistic activity 
coupled with a frightful relaxation of manners, it induced 
among the more serious-minded and less impressionable 
peoi)lcs of the north a desire, above all, for moral reform. 
Hence we have the sharp contrast of Italy adorning herself 
at this time with glorious palaces and churches filled with 
statues and paintings, and of the north slowly recovering 
the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew sources of Christianity, and 



The Reformation in Germain^ 299 

spreading the enthusiasm for a purer faith. Among the 
northern scholars and humanists thus engaged, those of 
Germany took a conspicuous place, and among them the 
most notable were Reuchlin, Ulrich von Hutten, and 
Erasmus. These men prepared the ground for the recep- 
tion of the seed of the Reformation. A few words con- 
cerning them will show us the direction of their efforts. 

John Reuchlin (1455-15 2 2) was purely a scholar whose The Ger- 
most important work was a Hebrew grammar. However, jg^s. 
he aroused the displeasure of the religious fanatics and was 
violently attacked by them. The friends of learning, 
among whom was Hutten, rallying to his support, aimed 
a series of telling shafts at monks, schoolmen, and the 
banded powers of superstition in the so-called EpistolcR 
obscurorum virorum (Letters of obscure men), and suc- 
ceeded in this way in creating a large body of opinion 
hostile to all abuses in the Catholic Church. To this end 
Desiderius Erasmus (1467-1536) also contributed. He Erasmus, 
was a native of Rotterdam, and, because of his universal 
influence, has received the name of the Prince of Hu- 
manists. Like Reuchlin he was a scholar, his chief 
scholarly contribution being a critical edition in Greek and 
Latin of the New Testament (15 16) by virtue of which he 
ranks as the father of modern Biblical criticism ; but, 
unlike Reuchlin, he was also a powerful man of letters, and 
commanding a skilful pen he held up to scorn in such 
writings as the ''Praise of Folly" (151 1), the shortcom- 
ings of his age and of the Church. 

Erasmus and his allies were students and not warriors. The early 
They wished to raise the culture of the day by spreading reibmie^s^ 
education, and they desired to reform the Church and not revolu- 
make that institution wide and tolerant enough to embrace 
all forms of honest Christian belief. When therefore the 
next generation of scholars, more aggressive than them- 



300 The Modern Period 

selves, proposed separation from the Catholic Church, the 
older humanists were in general horrified, and refused to 
lend a hand to carry out so radical a measure. 

Thus the humanists helped prepare the minds for the 
division of the Christian Church which we call the Ref- 
ormation, but did not make it. The direct agent was 
Martin Martin Luther. Martin Luther was born November lo, 

Luther. 1483, in Thuringia. He was of peasant ancestry, and 

peasant sturdiness and simplicity, with much of peasant 
obstinacy and superstition, remained characteristic of him 
to the end of his days. His parents managed to send 
young Martin to the University, but instead of becoming 
a lawyer, as they wished, he followed his natural bent, and 
in 1505 joined the Augustine Order of Friars. He oc- 
cupied himself very solemnly with the problems of salva- 
tion, and in 15 10 undertook a journey to Rome, where he 
saw face to face the corruption of the papacy. On his re- 
turn he applied himself more earnestly than ever to the 
study of St. Augustine and the mystics, and gradually be- 
came convinced that salvation was a matter not of externals, 
masses, beads, and pilgrimages, Init solely of deep and 
triumphant faith. Meanwhile Luther had accepted a pro- 
fessorship in the University of Wittenberg, the capital of 
Saxony, and these questions were working in his heart and 
mind, when the great event occurred which brought him 
into piiblic notice. 
Indul- In 1517 the Dominican, John Tetzel, hawked through 

doctrine and dermany letters of indulgence.^ Indulgences owed their 
practice. origin to the teaching of the Church that an act of sin in 
order to be forgiven involved (i) contrition and (2) sub- 
stantial punishment. The contrition always remained a 
pre-requisite, but it was soon decided that the substantial 



> Consult Lea, Hist, of Auricular Confession and Indulgences. 



The Reformation in Germany 301 

punishment could be remitted in return for a gift of money 
to the Church for some holy purpose. The letter in which 
the remission was certified was called an indulgence. Al- 
though indulgences were thus at first entirely honorable, 
the temptation always existed on the part of the popes to 
use them as a means of income, and there can be no doubt 
that the popes of the Renaissance employed them most un- 
scrupulously in this way, permitting agents to dispose of 
them at a sliding scale of prices suited to every kind of sin. 

As might have been foreseen, Tetzel's traffic aroused The ninety- 
much indignation, Luther's distinction is that he had the ^^^ theses, 
courage to bring the matter before the public. On Octo- 
ber 31, 15 1 7, he affixed to the church door at Wittenberg 
a document enumerating ninety-five theses or arguments 
against indulgences. Loud applause rang through the land, 
but the supporters of rigid Catholicism were not slow to 
meet the challenge. A fierce controversy ensued, and out 
of the contention arose gradually the Protestant Church. 

At the time when Luther published his ninety-five theses, How 
he was still a good son of the Church. But the opposition Luther s 
which he encountered in the next few years obliged him to to a schism, 
submit the whole system of the Catholic Church to an in- 
vestigation, and soon he discovered that there was much 
else in Catholicism besides indulgences which he could not 
accept. Above all, he grew suspicious of the authority 
of the pope which his opponents were always invoking. 
Against it, he put up the authority of the Bible, and in 
1520, in a pamphlet, called "The Babylonish Captivity," 
he went so far as to renounce the pope and call him a usurp- 
er. At this point the patience of pope Leo X., who had 
been attempting to have the trouble in Germany smoothed 
over, became exhausted. He published a bull of excom- 
munication against Luther, but Luther, now thoroughly 
fired with the sense of his mission, scornfully burned it 



302 



The Modern Period 



Luther 
summoned 
before the 
emperor. 



Luther at 

Worms, 

1521. 



amidst the rejoicings of his followers (1520). Thus began 
the Protestant schism. Luther could claim that reform had 
been proposed and rejected, and that nothing was left but 
revolution. 

Luther, stigmatized as a heretic by the pope, was now in 
danger of his life if the civil authorities followed up the 
pope's bull. In order to look into the case the youthful 
Charles V., who had been elected to the imperial office in 
15 19, summoned Luther to his presence at Worms on the 
Rhine, where a Diet had assembled to discuss the affairs of 
the realm. To reassure him and that element of the Ger- 
man people which had become passionately attached to him, 
the emperor issued a formal promise that Brother Martin 
might come and go undisturbed. Nevertheless, his friends 
supplicated him not to go, reminding him of the fate of 
Huss at Constance. " I would go even if there were as 
many devils as there are tiles on the house-roofs," he is 
said to have answered fearlessly. On April 17, 1521, he 
appeared before the Diet. 

The scene is one of the impressive spectacles of history. 
The poor monk stood for the first time in his life before 
a brilliant concourse of princes and bishops, who for the 
most part regarded him with suspicion and aversion. He 
was ordered to recant, and he agreed, provided it could be 
proved by arguments from the Bible that he was wrong. 
"Here I stand," he ended, "I can not do otherwise. 
God help me. Amen." The nation applauded, but his 
friends were concerned for his safety, and the elector of 
Saxony, his kind master, taking possession of his person, 
conveyed him secretly to the Wartburg Castle. 

While Luther was thus secured against his enemies, the 
emperor at Worms came to a decision. Charles was an 
inexperienced youth, just twenty-one years of age, but he 
was endowed with political ambition and capacity, and felt 



The Reformation in Germany 303 

instinctively that Luther, if allowed to go on, would cause 
a schism in Germany which would still further weaken the 
already weak position of the emperor. Moreover, Charles 
was a good Catholic, and, though favorable to a reform of 
the Church, would not hear of effecting it against the will 
of the ecclesiastical authorities. Finally, he was about to 
begin a war against Francis I. of France for the possession 
of Milan, and for this enterprise he argued that he should 
need the alliance of the pope. For all these reasons Charles 
jjublished, on May 26, 1521, a decree of outlawry, called 
the Edict of Worms, against Luther, by which the here- The Edict 
tic's life was declared forfeit and his writings forbidden. °' worms. 
Having thus settled, as he thought, the German diffi- 
culties, Charles set out for Italy to begin the war against 
France. 

But the movement of the Reformation had already ac- 
quired too great a momentum to be stopped by an imperial 
order. If Charles could have remained in Germany to see 
personally to the execution of his decree against Luther, or 
if the real power in Germany had not lain with the princes, 
who, from the nature of the case, were divided in their sym- 
pathy, the history of the Reformation might have been dif- 
ferent. As it was, however, Charles had interests in Spain, 
America, Italy, and the Netherlands, which often engaged 
him wholly, and the princes, if Catholic, half-heartedly 
received, and if Protestant, solemnly rejected, the Edict The Edict 

of Worms. Under these conditions the Reformation was o' vvor"is is 

not ex- 

for some time left to itself, and that proved its salva- ecuted. 
tion. 

The Protestant opinions of Luther and his followers made 
a rapid conquest of Germany. Monasteries were dissolved, 
and priests and bishops, abjuring their allegiance to Rome, 
instituted in the place of the Latin Mass a simpler worship 
which they conducted in the national idiom. With such 



304 



The Modern Period 



The prog- 
ress of the 
Reforma- 
tion. 



Radical 
upheavals. 



The rising 
of the peas- 
ants, 1524- 

25- 



ferment of opinion possessing the whole country it is not 
unnatural that wild agitators occasionally caught the ear 
of the masses. In fact, the Reformation was not many 
months old before its welfare Avas threatened more by its 
own extreme elements than by its Catholic opponents. 
Nobody saw this more clearly than Luther. He was re- 
solved that the movement should travel a sure road and at 
a moderate pace, and that whoever should venture to com- 
promise it by extravagances and illusions, or whoever should 
attempt to use it for ends other than those of the religious 
reform with which it had originated, must be abruptly ex- 
cluded from his party. These certainly not unwise con- 
siderations explain Luther's attitude toward the revolu- 
tions of the next eventful years. 

While Luther was still in concealment at the Wartburg, 
Protestant fanatics began to preach the breaking of Cath- 
olic images and other acts of religious violence. Hearing 
of this, Luther abruptly abandoned his retreat, rallied his 
followers about himself on his own moderate platform, and 
drove the fanatics out of Saxony (1522). 

The next year (1523) the ferment possessing Germany 
caused an outbreak among the knights of the Rhine coun- 
try, and shortly after followed a great rising among the 
peasants of southeastern and central Germany. This ris- 
ing was due primarily to social causes, but the religious 
agitation of the time supplied the immediate pretext. The 
social origin of the Peasants' War is proved by the numer- 
ous peasant insurrections of the previous century, and by 
the fact that, like all the earlier movements, it had for its 
main object the amelioration of the condition of the peas- 
ant, who was a mere serf, subject in person and property to 
the will and whim of his master. These poor people 
thought they heard in the Reformation the announcement 
of the brotherhood of man, and so they rose to get a few 



The Reformation in Germany 305 

simple human rights.' But, led by fanatics, they soon in- 
dulged in excesses, butchered their lords, and created an 
insufferable anarchy. The imperial authority being as 
usual too weak to deal with the insurrection, the local au- 
thorities — that is, the princes — got together an army and 
scattered the disorderly bands of peasants to the winds. 
Hounded on by Luther in coarse pamphlets the victors rioted 
in massacre, slaying many thousands of the poor insurgents. 

Luther's attitude toward the peasants has been much 
criticised. Certainly no excuse can be offered for his Luther's 
brutal language, but his excited championship of the au- aUitude^ ^ 
thorities is at least intelligible, when we reflect that he 
knew that the success of the movement which he had at 
heart depended on its being orderly and moderate and 
free from all entanglement with violence. 

While these things were going on in Germany, Charles The wars of 
V. was wholly engaged with the war against France. In and^V^ran- 
fact, the wars with France continued, in spite of periodical cis I. 
conclusions of peace, throughout his reign, and prevented 
him from ever giving his full attention to the German Ref- 
ormation. It will be sufficient for our purpose if we take 
note of two or three crises in the long conflict. In 1525, 
the army of Charles defeated the French at Pavia in so Pavia, 1525. 
signal a manner that the king of France himself, Francis I., 
was captured. The prisoner was transferred to Madrid, 
and there Charles wrung a peace from him which was so 
severe that Francis on his release immediately broke it. 
He now managed to strengthen himself by drawing the 
pope and Henry VIII. of England over to his side, but a 
new war availed him little. In 1527, the troops of Charles, 
composed of Spaniards and German Lutherans, horribly The sack of 
sacked Rome, and shortly after the pope and Francis I. ^°"^^' ^527- 



' The leading demands formulated in Twelve Articles were : abolition 
of serfdom, just rents, destruction of game preserves. 



3o6 The Modern Period 

were obliged to come to terms with the emperor. By the 
The Peace Peace of Cam bray (1529) Francis yielded Milan and the 
^^^^^^^^yy suzerainty of Artois and Flanders in the Netherlands to 

his rival, and in the next year the pope formally crowned 

Charles emperor at Bologna. 

Charles, temporarily rid of France, was' now resolved to 

look once more into German affairs. In 1530, after an ab- 

Charles re- sence of almost ten years, he again turned his face north- 

r^I^'.^o^ ward. The Reformation was by this time an accomplished 

Uermany. ■' '■ 

The Diet of fact, but Charles, who during his absence had received his 
J "^ information from Catholic partisans and through hearsay, 

still inclined, as at Worms, to treat it as a trifle. He was 
destined to be rudely awakened. A Diet had been called 
to meet him at the city of Augsburg, and at the summons a 
brilliant assembly of both Lutheran and Catholic princes 
came together. Charles at first made a show of acting as 
umpire, and invited the Lutherans to present their case. 
The Confes- They did this in the document known as the Confession of 
sion 01 Augsburg, which straightway won such favor among Prot- 

estant ^ contemporaries that it became and has since re- 
mained the creed of the Lutheran Church. But in the end 
Charles sided with the Catholic majority of the Diet, and 
signified his intention to execute at length the Edict of 
Worms against Luther, and to punish every one who had 
introduced religious innovations. Rather than suffer this, 
the Protestants resolved to appeal to force, and united them- 
selves in a great defensive league, called, from the place of 
meeting, the League of Schmalkalde (1531). 

Thus the schism in the Church threatened a schism in 
the state or civil war. But for the present the struggle was 
postponed, owing to the fact that Charles still hoped to be 
able to arrive at an amicable settlement, and to the further 



' The party name of Protestants began to be applied to the Lutherans 
at this time. It liad its origin in tlie //■(^/^j-Zpiibhsliccl by the Lutherans 
in 1529 against the execution of the Edict of Worms. 



The Refonnation in Germany 307 

circumstance that he had his hands full with other affairs. Pressure of 
Immediate attention had to be given to the Turks. They g^a'nces 
were pushing up the Danube and threatening Vienna, and hinders 
in order to be able to meet them Charles felt obliged to ^^^^ ^^_ 
court the Protestants. Finally, he promised to suspend all ploying 
action against them for the present, and was rewarded by against the 
their hearty assistance in his campaign against the Turks Protestants. 
(1532). But these enemies had hardly been repelled when 
the emperor found that he would have to give attention to 
the Mohammedan pirates of north Africa, who were destroy- 
ing the commerce of the Mediterranean and plundering the 
coasts of Italy and Spain. And hardly had these pirates 
been punished when Francis I. of France again began to 
stir. Charles's mind often travelled back to Germany, 
and he saw with horror the progress of the Protestant 
opinions, but what could he do? The French, the Turks, 
the African pirates were successively demanding all his time, 
and intercepted his arm every time he made preparations 
to draw his sword against the Protestant revolution. 

Owing to these affairs, it was not till 1545 that Charles In 1545 

again gave his undivided attention to the German Refor- )^„^I 1^^^^ 
° ° once more 

mation, and this time he had good hopes of arriving at a takes up the 
definite settlement. He had just (Peace of Crespi, 1544) ^g ^"^ ° 
concluded another war with Francis, in which the French Protestants. 
king was no more successful than in any of the earlier vent- 
ures ; further the emperor was at peace with the Turkish 
Sultan, Solyman ; and at that moment he enjoyed, finally, 
the good will of the pope. The pope, in fact, had gone so 
far as to call together at Trent a General Council of the Th^ Council 
Church (1545), which the emperor had long urged, and 
which he regarded as a sure remedy for the Protestant 
schism. To this authoritative body the Protestants were 
to send delegates ; these were to plead the Protestant cause ; 
and the whole Protestant party was expected to bow to the 



of Trent. 



308 



The Modern Period 



Failure of 
the last ne- 
gotiations. 



The death 
of Luther, 
1546. 



The first 
war of 
religion, 
1546-47. 



The 
reaction 
against 
Charles. 



verdict which the council would then render. When, 
therefore, the Council had assembled, the Emperor notified 
the Protestants ; but they, suspicious of the composition of 
the meeting, refused to take the proffered hand. In 1546, 
assured that further negotiations were futile, Charles ap- 
pealed to force. As the Protestants, united in the League 
of Schmalkalde, would not yield, Germany was now afflicted 
with her first civil war over the question of the Reformation. 

Just before hostilities began Luther died (1546), and 
was thus spared the pain of seeing his countrymen in arms 
against each other because of a movement of which he had 
been the creator. His life throughout was brave and sim- 
ple, and if it is stained with outbursts of coarseness and 
vulgarity, it is the part of generosity to ascribe them to the 
position of weight and responsibility to which circum- 
stances suddenly raised him who had but the training of a 
monk and a recluse. 

The first war of religion in Germany was for awhile 
very advantageous to the emperor. The Protestant princes 
did not stand together, and at the only serious battle of the 
war, the battle of Miihlberg (1547), Charles took the lead- 
ing Protestant prince, the elector of Saxony, prisoner. 
The victory of Charles was in no small measure due to the 
fact that Maurice of Saxony, a relative of the elector's, 
went over to the Catholic side. He got as reward his rela- 
tive's electorate, but, the price once paid, he began to edge 
over again toward his fellow-Protestants, and with character- 
istic selfishness prepared to betray his benefactor. 

Charles, after his victory, bethought himself of his old 
remedy — a conference of the factions in a General Coun- 
cil, but his plan once more suffered shipwreck upon the ill- 
will of the pope and the suspicions of the Protestants. Try 
as he would, there was nothing left for him to do but to 
dictate a religious peace. This he did in an arrangement 



The Reformation in Germaivy 309 

called the Interim, which, although Catholic in spirit, made 
the Protestants a few temporary concessions. But the In- 
terim rapidly grew distasteful to the Protestants, the foreign 
rule maintained by Charles's Spanish soldiery was hateful 
to all alike, and, when Maurice of Saxony went over to his 
co-religionists, Germany suddenly rose, and the emperor 
found himself helpless before the united demonstration 
(1552). He had to flee precipitately across the Alps, and 
now at last, racked with gout and prematurely old, he gave Charles 
up his hfe-long war against the Lutheran heresy. His ^^^^ "^ 
brother, Ferdinand, signed a preliminary peace with the 
Protestants at Passau, and at the Diet of Augsburg, in the 
year 1555, a final peace, known as the religious peace of 
Augsburg, was ratified by the estates. 

In the Peace of Augsburg the Lutheran Church received 
legal recognition. It was determined that every estate of The Peace 
the Diet — that is, every prince or imperial city — should have ? •'^"S^" 
the right to accept or reject the Lutheran faith. Toler- 
ance was to be granted to the rulers in accordance with 
the principle, cujns regio, ejus religio (he who rules a coun- 
try may settle its religion), but there was not granted an 
individual and general tolerance, and every subject could 
be obliged to accept the religion adopted by the state. A 
great deal of trouble was caused in the negotiations by the 
question of the numerous territorial bishoprics which ex- 
isted in Germany. The Protestants desired that the ter- 
ritorial bishops be given the same right of choice between 
Protestantism and Catholicism that every prince possessed, 
but the Catholics objected. Finally, it Avas decided in 
an article, called the Ecclesiastical Reservation, that a The Eccle- 
bishop might become a Protestant as far as his own person ?j^stical^ 
was concerned, but that he would then have to relinquish tion. 
his place. This article, which was altogether in the Catho- 
lic interest, soon caused much confusion, for it was found 



310 



The Modern Period 



Alliance 
of the Prot- 
estants 
with 
France. 



Resignation 
and death of 
Charles. 



in practice that it could not be kept. Many bishoprics, 
especially in the north, fell into Protestant hands, and the 
quarrels resulting from this breach of the Peace of Augs- 
burg contributed toward keeping up the religious agitation 
in Germany, and led in the end to a second religious war. 

The victory of the Protestants over the emperor was 
not purchased without a heavy loss for Germany. Maurice 
of Saxony had found it necessary, in order to make sure of 
victory, to ally himself with Henry II. of France, and in 
the same year (1552) in which Maurice drove the emperor 
over the Alps, Henry II. invaded Germany and occupied 
the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, from which it 
was found impossible to dislodge him. 

The emperor was broken in spirit by these last disasters. 
He abdicated his crown (1556), and retired to the monas- 
tery of San Yuste, in Spain, where he died two years later. 
Upon his abdication the vast Hapsburg possessions, which 
he had held in his sole hand, were divided. His son 
Philip got Spain (with her colonies), the Italian territory 
(Naples and Milan), and the Netherlands. His brother, 
Ferdinand, got the Austrian lands, and therewith the impe- 
rial crown. Henceforth until the extinction of the Spanish 
line (1700) we have in Europe two Hapsburg Houses, a 
Spanish and an Austrian branch. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

German Humanism. Creighton, History of the Papacy dttring the Reforma- 
tion. 5 vols. Longmans. See Vol. V., Ch. I. and II. Whitcomb, 
Source-Book. $1.25. University of Pennsylvania. Translations of 
Erasmus's Praise of Folly and of the CoUoguies. Reeves & Turner. 
London. 

The Social Unrest Culminating in the Peasants' War, Bax, German 
Society at the Close of the Middle Ages. Macmillan. $1.75. Ch. I. and 
VI. Bax, The Peasants' War. Macmillan. $2.00. Translations and 
Reprints. University of Pennsylvania. Vol. II. No. 6 gives The 
Twelve Articles of the Peasants. Goethe, G'dtz von Berlichingen (.drama). 



Progress of Reformation in Europe 311 



theranism. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE 
AND THE COUNTER- REFORMATION OF THE 
CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

LITERATURE.— Johnson (as before), pp. 261-277. 
Fisher (as before). Chapters VI., VII., XI. 
Ranke, History of the Popes, 3 vols. $3.00. Bohn. 

Alzog, Church History, 4 vols. Gill & Son, Dublin. (Catholic view.) 
■Ward, The Counter Reformation {Epoc/ts 0/ Church History). $0.80. 
Longmans. 

The Protestant Reformation spread rapidly from Ger- Denmark, 
many over the Teutonic north and made inroads even upon ^^^^^'Hen 
the Latin countries — France, Italy, and Spain. In the accept Lu- 
Scandinavian north it won an early and complete triumph. 
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, the three Scandinavian 
powers, had been united under one king since the Union 
of Calmar (1397). But at the beginning of the sixteenth 
century the Union fell apart, for Sweden revolted and es- 
tablished her independence under the native house of Vasa. 
Denmark and Norway, on the other hand, remained united, 
under a Danish king, down to the time of Napoleon. The 
political confusion that was occasioned in Scandinavia by 
the struggle of Sweden for independence favored the relig- 
ious innovations, and within twenty years after Luther's proc- 
lamation against indulgences (15 17), the Lutheran Church 
had become the sole and state Church of all the Scandina- 
vian countries. The north produced no great reformer of 
its own, and therefore accepted the Church of its nearest 
neighbor, Germany. 

The case was different in Switzerland. Switzerland 
consisted, in the sixteenth century, of many little cantons, 
all technically a part of the empire, but practically con- 



312 The Modern Period 

The Refor- stituting independent republics, bound together in a very 
SwVt°zer-" '^^°^^ federation. In 1518 Ulrich Zwingli, a priest of 
land. Ulrich the canton of Glarus, made an energetic protest against 
wing 1. ^j^g doctrine of indulgences. By transferring his activity to 

Zurich, the intellectual centre of the country, he soon gath- 
ered around himself a powerful party of reform. His suc- 
cess in Switzerland was as immediate and signal as that of 
Luther in Germany. 
Religious Zwingli always maintained that he had arrived at his re- 

the Swiss form doctrines in complete independence of Luther, and 
there is every reason to believe that this assertion is true. 
It simply goes to prove that there was in Europe a general 
trend of opinion toward reform. After an attempt at a 
union between himself and Luther had failed, chiefly be- 
cause of some doctrinal differences, Zwingli established his 
own Reformed Church in Switzerland. All the Swiss 
cantons, however, could not be won to the new faith. The 
simple and uneducated foresters and mountaineers of the 
upper Alps (inhabitants of the so-called Forest Cantons) 
remained stanchly Catholic. Only the Cantons on the 
Swiss border, which were under the influence of the two 
progressive cities, Zurich and Berne, accepted Zwingli's 
teaching. In the war between the two faiths which fol- 
lowed (1531), the Catholic cantons won the decisive victory 
of Cappel, and as Zwingli himself fell on this occasion, the 
Catholics might have driven a hard bargain. Nevertheless 
they concluded peace with the Protestants on the same basis 
as the Catholics and Protestants of Germany did a few years 
later at Augsburg : each local government or canton was 
allowed to accept or reject the Reformed faith as it pleased. 
In consequence of this settlement, Switzerland, like Ger- 
many, is partly Catholic and partly Protestant to this day. 
A little after these events in the eastern or German part 
of Switzerland there arose in the western or French part 



Progress of Reformation in Europe 313 

another great Protestant leader, whose influence was des- The Refor- 

tined to become more wide than that of Luther himself. "?^^*o" i" 

Geneva. 

This leader was John Calvin, and the city which he made 
famous as the great hearth of the new Protestant worship 
was Geneva. 

It was a stroke of chance that brought John Calvin to The early 
Geneva. Originally a Frenchman — he was born in 1507, Calvin 
in Picardy — he had studied law, and during his student 
days had imbibed the current Protestant doctrines. Hav- 
ing become an enthusiastic advocate of the new faith, he 
had to leave France, and spent his exile in deep study in 
Germany and Switzerland. His life thus far had been that 
of a student, and in 1536 he crowned his reputation in this 
line by publishing a theological treatise, the " Institutes of 
the Christian Religion," which was immediately accepted 
as the best defence of Protestantism then in existence. 
Shortly after this work appeared, he undertook a journey 
to France, which brought him for a night's rest to Geneva. 

That night was the turning point of his career. Geneva, 
a self-governing community, had lately declared for Prot- 
estantism, but Protestantism was by no means yet firmly 
established. Naturally the preachers of Geneva called 
upon their celebrated guest, and after a long debate prevailed 
upon him to stay and labor in God's vineyard. Thus, he Calvin es- 
who had hitherto been a student elected to become an ac- ^^ Geneva 
tive worker. That he was successful in the new province 
is proved by the fact that with the exception of a short ex- 
ile he dominated the city politically and ecclesiastically 
until his death (i 536-1 564). 

The leading conception of Calvin's theology is the ab- The rigor- 
solute supremacy of God's will. God's will determining "^ f^° " 
everything, man's action is proportionately insignificant, Calvin. 
and his claim to save himself by either works or faith pre- 
posterous. Salvation is solely an act of God's grace, and 



3H 



The Modern Period 



Calvin 
father of the 
Presbyte- 
rian form of 
Church gov- 
ernment. 



The spread 
of Calvin- 
ism. 



as an omniscient God must know the whole life of a man 
from the moment he is born, logic urged the belief that it is 
determined at a man's birth whether he is to be saved or 
not. This is the famous doctrine of predestination, whicli 
the modern world is inclined to reject as harsh and cruel. 
However, the mere conception of this idea conveys to us a 
sense of the uncomi)romising logic and stubborn enthusiasm 
which made Calvinism, wherever it appeared, an irresistible 
power. 

The vigor of his theological conceptions Calvin enforced 
by his system of Church government. The Catholic idea, 
that the government of the Church belongs solely to the 
clergy, he rejected utterly. As the Church belonged to all 
Christians, he urged that the ministers should be obliged to 
share the government with selected laymen, called elders 
or presbyters, and that in certain affairs the whole congre- 
gation should have a voice. This system, possessed of con- 
spicuous democratic elements, is called the Presbyterian 
form of Church government. 

Geneva became a city of refuge to all the distressed Prot- 
estants of France, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. 
Calvin labored for the spread of liis doctrines in all these 
lands, and aided the exiles to return and work secretly as 
missionaries of the Reformed faith. In this way, and with 
the aid of other circumstances, he was able to replace the 
influence of Luther in all of the countries west of the Rhine, 
and even in parts of Germany itself, and to introduce into 
them his type of Protestantism. From the point of view of 
the success of the Reformation this was entirely well. For 
toward the middle of the century, Catholicism was mar- 
shalling its forces for an attack upon its revolted subjects, and 
the grim and combative Calvinism was much better suited 
than the conservative Lutheranism to meet and rout the 
opposition. 



Progress of Reformation in Europe 315 

We have seen that there had been raised in Europe, ever 
since the thirteenth century, loud cries for the reform of The Cath- 
the Church, but that the popes had remained deaf to the un^ert^akes 
call. At length, toward the middle of the sixteenth cent- a reform, 
ury, frightened by the movement begun by Luther, the 
Catholic Church yielded to the new spirit and instituted a 
series of reformatory measures. 

This Counter-Reformation in the Catholic Church must, Change in 
in order to be rightly understood, be recognized as a real tprof t^T^" 
religious revival which, without affecting the doctrines or papacy. 
the system of government, brought about a great improve- 
ment in the life of the clergy. We have noticed that the 
popes of the Renaissance, concerned chiefly with their ag- 
grandizement and pleasures, were stubbornly hostile to re- 
form. This spirit continued to animate the papacy until 
the accession of Paul IV. (1555-59)- P^^l IV. was the 
first pope who perceived the precarious condition of the 
Church. He abandoned the splendid ways of his Renais- 
sance predecessors, maintained a high personal standard, 
and devoted himself with zeal to ecclesiastical interests. 
Paul IV. gave the papacy a new moral energy which was 
handed on to his successors and affected the whole clergy 
down to the parish priest. 

The Catholic revival was accompanied by a number of 
events and creations within the bosom of Catholicism 
which should receive our attention. They were: i, The 
Society of the Jesuits ; 2, The Council of Trent ; 3, The 
Inquisition. 

The Order of tlie Jesuits or Regiment of Jesus was 
founded by Ignatius Loyola. Loyola was a Spanish noble- 
man, whose highest ideal was that of a soldier until, in con- Ignatius 
sequence of a severe wound received in the service of the ^oyo'^- 
king, his master (152 1), he chanced to read some "Lives 
of the Saints. ' ' These so fired his imagination that he be- 



3i6 The Modern Period 

came filled with the desire to emulate the Christian heroes. 
His first efforts were wildly romantic and fruitless. He 
eventually saw that his education was not sufficient, and at 
thirty-three years of age he began to study Latin, philos- 
ophy, and theology. While at school in Paris he made 
the acquaintance of some kindred spirits, and with them 
he founded his new society (1534), for the purpose, at first, 
of doing missionary work among the Mohammedans. Cir- 
cumstances prevented the sailing of the enthusiasts for the 
Orient, whereupon they resolved to go to Rome to offer 
their services to the pope and also to secure his sanction 
for their order. In 1540, after considerable hesitation, 
pope Paul III. confirmed the order and the rules which 
Loyola had composed for it. 
Military Loyola fashioned his order after the manner of an army, 

discipline |-|-jg ^^-y^\ authority over it being concentrated in the hands 
the basic -' , r 1 1 • • 1 

principle of of a general. As with the army, the fundamental principle 

the Jesuits, ^^^g discipline. Since the members of the order took a 

special vow of obedience to the pope, this ruler soon saw 

their usefulness, and by heaping the order with honors, 

rights, and privileges, quickly made it the most powerful 

one in Europe. 

The activi- The Jesuits engaged in every kind of activity. They 

ties of the were famous preachers and confessors, and became especially 

expert in dealing with the Catholic conscience and in 

caring for souls. They carried on foreign mission work on 

a grand scale, planting their stations in all parts of the 

world. Realizing that youth is the most impressionable 

age, they fostered education. By their superior methods of 

instruction they attracted to their schools the best young 

men of the time, and instilled into them the doctrines ot 

their faith. For more than a hundred years they led Europe 

in education. They devoted themselves also to politics and 

became cunning diplomats and intriguers. Everywhere 



Progress of Reformation in Europe 317 

they made themselves felt, and it was due in great measure 
to their comprehensive and untiring efforts that Protestant- 
ism was destroyed in Italy, Spain, France, Poland, and in 
the dominions of the Hapsburgs, and that these lands re- 
mained attached to the Catholic Church. Even in the 
Protestant countries, Germany, England, and Scandinavia, 
the Jesuits were able to bring their Church into prominence 
again, and to put into jeopardy the existence of the Reformed 
Churches. Their work in the high places of the world was 
especially successful, and in the course of the seventeenth 
century Germany was startled by the news of the return of 
many a Protestant prince to the bosom of mother Church. 

The Council of Trent (in session at intervals, 1545-63), The Council 
rendered the Catholic Church the signal service of unifying °^ Trent, 
the Catholic doctrines as they had never been unified be- 
fore. In the body of the tradition of the Catholic Church 
there were many conflicting tendencies and records. These 
differences the Council of Trent removed, and then formu- 
lated the Catholic creed anew, in sharp opposition to the 
doctrines set up by the Protestants. There were many 
Catholics present at this Council who were inclined to a 
compromise with the Protestants for the sake of making the 
Church one again, but the strict papal party, under the 
leadership of the Jesuits, Avas able to prevent the Council 
from making any concession. The acts of this Council now 
constitute a part of the creed of the Catholic Church. Only 
a few important additions have since been made; such are, 
for instance, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of 
the Virgin Mary, which was announced in the year 1854, 
and the doctrine of the Infallibility of the Pope, which was 
promulgated at the Council of the Vatican, in the year 1870. 

The word Inquisition ^ describes an ecclesiastical court, 



' Consult Lea, History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. 3 vols. 
Harper. 



3i8 The Modern Period 

The ecclesi- established for the purpose of tracing and punishing heresy. 
^^ll''d 1''°"'^* ^ '^^ penalty, which the judges or inquisitors pronounced, 
quisition. was usually confiscation of property or death, and was 
executed by the civil authorities. The Inquisition was 
not an invention of the Counter-Reformation. In a mild 
form it existed throughout the Middle Age. Pope Inno- 
cent III. (11 98-1 2 1 6) first organized it effectively, and 
had himself the pleasure of seeing its complete success 
against the Albigenses. Naturally, the zealots of the 
Counter-Reformation began early to urge its employment 
against the heretical followers of Luther and Calvin. 
Owing, however, to the abhorrence with which the Inquisi- 
tion, because of its terrible and vague prerogative, filled 
the people, and owing further to the jealousy of the govern- 
ments, which dreaded the interference of an ecclesiastical 
court, this engine of repression was not everywhere ad- 
mitted. A notable activity it exhibited only in Spain, 
Italy, and the Netherlands. In the last-named country it 
produced quite the opposite effect of that intended ; but 
in Italy and Spain it operated with such complete success 
that the Reformation no sooner showed in those countries 
signs of life than it was crushed. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. The Relation of Zvvingli's Movement to that of Luther. Gieseler, 

Church History. 4 vols. Harper. See Vol. IV., 75-98, 132. Fisher, 
Reformatifl7i, 136-155. Kostlin, Luther. Part V., Ch. III. and IV. 

2. Calvin AT Geneva. Visher, History 0/ the Christian Chunk. $3.50. Scrib- 

ner. See Period VIII., Ch. III. Dyer, Calvin, London. Alzog, Vol. 
III., 282-90. Translations and Reprints. University of Pennsylvania, 
Vol. III., No. 3. Calvin on Predestination, Lord's Supper, Heresy, 
etc. 

3. The Society OF Jesus. Hausser. Reformation. $2.00. Ch. XX. Ameri- 

can Tract Society. Alzog, Vol. III., 445-454. AVard, Counter Refor- 
mation, yi-Al^. Hughes, /-(yf'/rt (Great Educators). $0.80. Scribner. 
Shorthouse, John Inglesant (x\o\e.\). 



Spain under Charles I. and Philip II. 319 



CHAPTER XX 

SPAIN UNDER CHARLES I. (1516-56), KNOWN AS EM- 
PEROR CHARLES v., AND PPHLIP H. (1556-98); 
HER WORLD EMINENCE AND HER DECAY 

LITERATURE.— Johnson (as before). Pp. go io6, 137-145, 250-261, 277- 

313- 

M. A. S. Hume, Philip II. (Foreign Statesmen). $0.75. Macmillan. 

M. A. S. Hume, 6"/«/«, Greatness and Decay (1479-1788). $1.50. Mac- 
millan. 

From a Spanish national point of view it was a great 
misfortune that Charles I. (1516-56) was elected to the Charles as 
empire in 15 19, and became the Emperor Charles V. 0'"^° 
Henceforth, although representing imperial rather than 
Spanish interests, he nevertheless relied almost exclusively 
upon Spanish resources. Thus Spain was drained of men 
and money, to advance not her own cause in the world, 
but the personal prestige of her sovereign. 

Because of Charles's divided affections, and further be- 
cause of his short-sighted home-policy, Spain suffered irre- 
mediable internal injuries during his outwardly brilliant 
reign. In fact, her gradual decay may be dated from this 
time. We have seen that the Spanish monarchy tended 
under Ferdinand and Isabella toward absolutism, but we 
have also seen that absolutism was on the whole worthily 
used for the abasement of the nobles and for the advance- 
ment of peace and order. Under Charles it was unfortu- Charles, 
nately used against the people. The cities of Castile ^"^"}y of 
enjoyed a considerable measure of self-government, but tions. 
when in 1521 they rose in revolt against certain arbitrary 
measures of the crown, Charles, crushing them by means of 
an army, deprived them of almost all their liberties. At 



320 .The Modern Period 

the same time the ParHament (Cortes) of Castile, which 
had once enjoyed even more influence than the Parliament 
of England, was stripped of most of its power. Thus 
Charles contributed to the ruin of the free institutions of 
his country and therewith sealed up a spring which at all 
times has been an important source of a people's vitality. 
And to make things worse, the Inquisition, already under 
Charles, Ferdinand and Isabella an instrument of tyranny, grew 

friend of ^ j^^^^ j.^ ,^q^q ^^^ more monstrous proportions. The exe- 

tion. cutions of Moors and Jews were conducted with zest, but 

we should, in fairness to Charles, remember that, cruel and 
unwise as this policy of persecution was, it was heartily 
endorsed by the sincere and fervid intolerance of the 
Spanish people. 

Philip II. The last thirteen years of his reign Charles spent in Ger- 

succeeds to i^m-,y ^\^q Protestant successes there broke his spirit, and 

the kingdom •' ' ' 

of Spain. he resigned his crowns in 1556, Spain to his son Philip, 

Austria to his brother Ferdinand. Philip II. (1556-98) 

on his accession found himself at the head of states (Spain 

and colonies, Naples, Milan, and the Netherlands) hardly 

less extensive than those which Charles had governed, and 

as he did not become emperor, he had, from the Spanish 

point of view, the great excellence over Charles that he 

was a national king. As such, he endeared himself to his 

people and still lives in their memory. 

It is curious that this same Philip, whom the Spaniards 

The char- esteem so highly, should stand before the rest of Europe as 

PhT ^^^^ darkest tyrant and most persistent enemy of light and 

progress whom the age produced. To this traditional 

European picture there certainly belongs a measure of 

truth ; but calm investigation teaches us that this truth is 

distorted with prejudice. Philip II. was a severe, cold, 

and narrow-minded man. He looked upon himself as 

God's agent on earth, and therefore hated all resistance to 



Spain under Charles I. and Philip II. 321 

his will. Further he was a fervid Catholic, and abominated 
heresy of whatever form or description. Because of these 
views he clashed with the world of the north, which had 
freer conceptions of religion and government, and because 
of them he remains to this day to friends of progress an 
unsympathetic figure. But, whatever our judgment of him, 
it is due to him to remember that he was what he was with 
entire conviction. 

With such ideas as the above governing his life, it was Philip, 
only natural that Philip should have become the champion c^^hol^" °^ 
of Catholicism, and should have directed the chief effort of cism. 
his reign against the Protestants of the north. However, 
these religious wars were not altogether his fault. An 
impartial student must agree that they were as much forced 
upon him by Protestant aggression and the logical progress 
of events, as determined by his own Catholic impulses. 
As things stood, after the Council of Trent, a great Prot- 
estant-Catholic world-war was inevitable. It came by 
w^ay of the Spanish Netherlands. The Netherlands re- 
volted, and Philip set about putting down the revolt. 
But the Netherlands could not be pacified by him, and, 
adopting Protestantism, gradually won the sympathies and 
secured the aid of the French Huguenots and the German 
and English Protestants. So the war widened ; finding 
himself opposed in the Netherlands by the united Protest- 
ant peoples, Philip, in order to secure the Catholic sympa- 
thies, put himself forward as the champion of the pope and 
of Catholicism. 

Philip's reign began with a war (1556-59) against Philip 
Henry H. of France. The French once more attempted u'^l^f^^^ 
to weaken the hold of the Spaniards on Italy and the Italy. 
Netherlands, and once more they were unsuccessful. In 
the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis (1559) the long rivalry 
over Italy, inaugurated a half century before, was closed 



322 



The Modern Period 



The war 
against the 
Dutch be- 
comes gen- 
eral. 



Philip turns 
against 
England. 
The Arma- 
da. 



Philip op- 
poses the 
Turks. 



and Spain left in undisputed possession of Naples and 
Milan. This war was entirely a political affair. But 
shortly after began the revolt of the Netherlands, and the 
long chain of wars pertaining thereto have all, more or 
less, a religious aspect. 

Philip's war against the Dutch will be treated in a 
.separate chapter. We note here merely that after a decade 
of uninterrupted fighting, it assumed, owing to the sym- 
pathies and alliances vouchsafed the Dutch, a universal 
character : to the war with the Protestant rebels was added 
a war with the French Huguenots under Henry of Navarre 
and a war with the England of Elizabeth. Furiously 
Philip turned at length upon his leading Protestant enemy, 
upon England. 

The height of the struggle between Spain and England 
was the sending of the great fleet, the Armada, against the 
northern power (1588). The Atlantic waters had never 
seen the like ; but the expedition failed miserably by 
reason of the superior skill and audacity of the English 
sailors and the disasters caused by wind and water. Philip 
bore his defeat with his usual impassivity. He spoke 
unaffectedly of the deep grief it caused him " not to be able 
to render God this great service." But the destruction of 
the Armada settled the great religious conflict. It deter- 
mined that the Dutch should not be reconquered ; it se- 
cured the Protestant world henceforth against the Catholic 
reaction ; and it put in the place of decaying Spain a new 
sea-power — England. 

But the Protestant heretics were not Philip's only ene- 
mies. The Turks, who had for some generations been 
threatening the west, engaged much of his attention. Bit 
by bit they had reduced the Venetian possessions in the 
east ; foot by foot they had pushed across Hungary toward 
Germany ; and Mohammedan pirates planted in northern 



Spain under Charles /. and Philip II. 323 

Africa constantly plundered the Spanish coasts. Finally, 
in their great need, the pope, Venice, and Spain formed 
an alliance (15 71), and in the same year their united Lepanto, 
fleet, under Philip's half-brother, Don John of Austria, won ^57i« 
a brilliant victory over the Turks in the Gulf of Lepanto, 
in Greece. More than two hundred and fifty vessels were 
engaged on either side, and when the day was over no 
more than fifty Turkish vessels were found to have escaped 
destruction. Although the victory brought no tangible 
conquests to Christendom, the Mohammedan sea-power re- 
ceived a set-back from which it never again completely 
recovered. Lepanto is one of the proud moments of the 
history of Philip and of Spain. 

Another triumph of Philip's reign was the acquisition of Philip ac- 
Portugal, the only state of the peninsula of the Pyrenees ?ui^i^ ^^' 
which Spain had not yet absorbed. The event occurred 
in the year 1580, when the last native king of Portugal 
died, and Philip, who had a claim based upon the frequent 
intermarriages of the two reigning houses, took possession 
of the state and of her colonies. However, the Portu- 
guese, proud of their nationality and their achievements 
during the Age of Discoveries, accepted the yoke of the 
greater state unwillingly. The memories of Portuguese in- 
dependence would not perish, and after Spain had entered 
upon her decline, and only forty years after Philip's death, 
Portugal rose and won back her freedom, under a new 
royal House, the House of Braganza (1640). Since then 
Portugal and Spain have never been united. 

If the great wars with the Protestant powers, Lepanto, Domestic 
and the acquisition of Portugal gave a certain outward '^"*"' 
splendor to Philip's reign, beneath that splendor and with- 
in the boundaries of Spain everything pointed to ruin. 
Absolutism lay like a weight of lead upon everybody, 
crushing individual thought and business enterprise. Its 



324 The Modern Period 

bad effects were supplemented by the Inquisition, which 
killed or banished the Jews and systematically exterminated 
the poor descendants of the Moors whose agricultural 
knowledge and industrial skill were far in advance of any- 
thing the Spaniards themselves could boast. 
Inquisition Inquisition and absolutism — these are the names of the 

t^m^ "' chief diseases which racked the body of the Spanish nation. 
As they are associated with the central power, it is cus- 
tomary to describe the decline of Spain solely to her big- 
oted, unwise kings. But the Spanish people themselves 
must bear a share of the blame. To a stubborn religious 
intolerance which shut them off from all new ideas, they 
added a lordly pride and a southern indolence which made 
them contemptuous of the great and saving gospel of work. 
Philip III. Philip III. (1598-1621), who succeeded Philip II., was 

(1593-1021). ^^ utterly incapable man. In 1609 he was obliged to 
bend his pride in a way in whicH his father refused to do, 
and conclude with the rebel Dutch a twelve years' truce. It 
was the public acknowledgment of Spain's decline. Un- 
der Philip IV. (1621-65) th^ country dropped definitely to 
the second and third rank among European powers in con- 
sequence of the disgraceful treaties of Westphalia (1648) 
and of the Pyrenees (1659), which closed her long wars 
with the Netherlands and with France. In 1659 the po- 
litical, social, and material decline of Spain was patent to 
every observer. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. The Inquisition in Stain. Prescott, Philip II. 3 vols. $3.00. Lippin- 

cott. 'WiWiens, Spanish Protestantism in i/te Sixteenth Century. $1.50. 
Heinemann. K\i\c, History 0/ the Inquisition. 3 vols. London. 

2. Civilization of Spain Under Pmilii' (commerce, court, literature, etc.). 

Hume, Philip II. Ch. XVIII. Hume, The Year after the Armada. 
Fitzma.uTice-Kelly, S/anish Literature. $1.50. Appleton. 



England under the Ttidors 325 



CHAPTER XXI 

ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS (1485-1603) ; FINAL 
TRIUMPH OF THE REFORMATION UNDER ELIZA- 
BETH (1559-1603). 

L,1TERATI)RK.— Seebohm, T/ie 0.r/o?-^ Reformers. $5.cx3. Longmans. 

l.R. Qr^^n, History of the English People. 4 vols. $8.00. Harper. 

Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Eliza- 
beth. 12 vols. Scribner. 

Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History. $6.00. Houghton. 

Translation and Reprints. Univ. of Penn. Vol. I., No. i (Letters of 
Henry, Wolsey, etc.). 

Prothero, Statutes and Constitutional Documents, 1559-1625. $2.60. Clar- 
endon Press. 

Gee and Hardy, Documents Illustratiz'e of English Church History, 
$2.60. Macmillan. 

Henry VIII. {j^og-47) 

S. R. Gardiner, Student's History of E7igland, pp. 361-411, $3.00. Longf* 

mans. 
J, R. Green, A Short History of tJie English People, pp. 303-57. $1.20, 

Harper. 

Henry VII., the first Tudor monarch and creator of the Great ex- 
" strong monarchy," was succeeded on his death in 1509 P^^tations 
by his son Henry VIII. Henry VIII. was an attractive Henry VIIL 
youth of twenty, skilled in gentlemanly sports such as rid- 
ing and tennis, condescending with all people, free-handed 
and fond of pageantry, and altogether the idol of his nation, 
which received him with acclamations of joy. As he had 
humanistic leanings, it was at first supposed that his reign 
would lead to a great culmination of humanism. 

The leading English humanists were John Colet and Sir The English 
Thomas More. Erasmus also deserves to be named in this "Pianists, 
connection, for, although he was born at Rotterdam, he 
lived for a time in England and exercised a great influence 
there. These men, like their contemporaries in Germany, 



326 



The Modern Period 



Colefs 
work in 
education. 



Sir Thomas 

More's 

Utopia. 



Stood for the new classical learning; they interested them- 
selves in the ideal philosophy of Plato ; and they spread 
through England the passion for a reformed and simple 
Christian life. Because the University of Oxford became 
a seat of humanistic influence, the English humanists are 
generally known as the Oxford reformers. 

The Oxford reformers did, each in his own way, im- 
portant civilizing work. Colet's interest lay largely in 
education. With his own fortune he founded St. Paul's 
school for boys along lines that were as far as possible re- 
moved from any followed in the Middle Age. The old 
pedagogic brutality was replaced by affectionate interest, 
and Greek and Latin, taught in a fresh, human way, crowded 
out the petrified studies of the schoolmen. St. Paul's 
school became the model for many new schools created in 
the following years. 

Sir Thomas More, having adopted a political career, be- 
came chiefly interested in problems of good government. 
His ideas on this subject he laid down in a famous book, 
" Utopia " (the Kingdom of Nowhere, 1516). The 
Utopia is not a realistic political treatise, such as Ma- 
chiavelli's Prince, but presents an ideal which human 
government and society should strive to reach. Justice, 
freedom, and equality are the pillars of More's visionary 
kingdom, and by exhibiting the delightfulness of a life 
established upon such a basis, he brought sharply to the 
mind of his contemporaries the shortcomings of the king- 
doms of which they formed a part. In Utopia education 
was obligatory ; there were wise sanitary provisions ; ani- 
mals were treated with kindness; religious tolerance was a 
government rule. People reading of these things must 
have wished greatly to realize them in this life. 

Henry did not yield to the humanistic influences for long. 
He heaped many favors upon individual humanists, but 



England under the Tudors 327 

showed at the same time that he cared not so much for Henry 
domestic reform as for personal aggrandizement. Under ^"op^^a 
the smooth exterior of the king there gradually appeared a aggrandize- 
stubborn and imperious egotism which would brook no "^^" ' 
opposition to its will. 

The leading events of the next years are associated with Henry 
Henry's wars. In 151 2 the king joined Spain and the the^Frencli" 
pope in the Holy League, which was created for the purpose Spanish 
of driving the French out of Italy, and while Louis XII. of ^"^ ^°^ *°' 
France was busy defending Milan, Henry invaded his 
rival's territory from Calais, then still an English posses- 
sion. The most notable results of these campaigns across 
the Channel was a cheap victory, known as the Battle of 
the Spurs (15 13). 

However, a more decisive advantage was gained in an- Troubles 
other direction. When the king of France found himself ^ ^ ^ 
threatened by the king of England, he naturally sought the 
alliance of the monarch of Scotland, James IV., and while 
Henry was campaigning in France, James crossed the 
Scottish border and pushed south. Brought to a halt at 
Flodden Field, he was there signally defeated, himself and 
the flower of his nobility remaining dead upon the field. 
It was the last time the Scots seriously threatened the pres- 
tige of England. 

The favorite adviser of Henry at this period of his life Wolsey 
was Thomas Wolsey (1471-1530). Wolsey was a mere ^nj^L^'d'^ 
burgher's son, but having joined the clergy rose rapidly by Chancellor. 
virtue of his talents from post to post, until the king's 
favor won for him the archbishopric of York, and at the 
same time raised him to the position of Lord Chancellor, 
the highest post in the civil administration of the realm 
(15 1 5). Thus Wolsey became the king's second self. 
Unfortunately he was over-fond of power and its outward 
symbols, such as gorgeous palaces, trains of servants, and 



328 



The Modern Period 



Henry takes 
sides 

against Lu- 
ther. 



Henry's 
marriage. 



sumptuous feasts, and altogether his ambition and vanity 
subtracted somewhat from his undoubted patriotism and 
intelligence. 

Meanwhile, beginning with the ninety-five theses of 
1517, Europe had become agitated by the question of the 
Reformation, and it seemed to Henry to devolve on him 
to adopt some definite attitude toward Luther's heresy. 
Henry was not untutored in theology. In fact, he prided 
himself upon being a master of all its intricacies, and his 
vanity urged him not to conceal his light under a bushel. 
When Luther went so far as to attack the sacraments and 
the authority of the pope, Henry published a vehement 
pamphlet against him (15 21), in return for which service the 
pope, gratified at finding a champion among the royalty, 
conferred upon Henry the title of Defender of the Faith. 
The good understanding between the king and the pope 
was, however, sadly ruffled before long by the rise of the 
divorce question. 

Henry's marriage deserves close consideration. The 
reader will remember that Henry VH., in pursuance of 
his peace policy, had sought to associate himself with 
Spain. He calculated that England was threatened by 
France alone, and that Spain and England in alliance 
would render France harmless. Spain did not fail to see 
her own advantage in this policy of Henry, and finally 
Ferdinand of Spain and Henry VH. of England agreed to 
cement their interests by a matrimonial alliance. Accord- 
ingly the boy-prince of Wales, Arthur, was married to 
Catharine, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. But 
shortly after the ceremony Arthur died, and, as the desire 
for the alliance continued as before, the idea naturally oc- 
curred to the families concerned to marry Arthur's widow 
to Arthur's surviving brother, Henry. However, an ob- 
stacle to this project was offered by a Church law, which 



England under the Tudors 329 

forbade a man to marry his deceased brother's wife. In 
this dilemma the then pope, Julius II., granted a special 
dispensation, whereby the church law was annulled for 
Catharine's and Henry's benefit. The way being thus 
cleared, the marriage actually took place immediately upon 
Henry's accession (1509). 

It will be readily seen that the legality of Henry's mar- Reasons 
riage depended upon the pope's dispensation. And for a Y < '^^"'■y 
number of years Henry seems never to have doubted that divorce, 
his marriage was a real marriage, nor to have thought 
that there was anything wrong with the pope's special 
warrant. But gradually circumstances arose and conditions 
were created that made it very desirable to him to get rid 
of his wife. These were as follows : Catharine was five 
years older than himself, and her melancholy religious 
temperament was incompatible with his boisterous worldli- 
ness ; he hoped for a son to secure the succession and 
he had by Catharine only a sickly daughter, Mary ; the 
marriage with Catharine was merely a concession to the 
Spanish alliance and that had just (1525) been broken; 
finally, he loved another woman, the young and charming 
maid of honor, Anne Boleyn. For all these reasons Henry 
began to think of a divorce, and naturally enough he at- 
tacked, in order to get it, the pope's dispensation upon 
which the marriage hinged. 

It was in 1527 that Henry took up the divorce matter. The pope 

He informed the pope, who was Clement VII., that he ^"[sats the 

^ ^ ' divorce suit 

considered the dispensation to be technically faulty and dilatorily. 

begged him to annul it. Naturally the pope wished to 

proceed slowly in so important a matter, and his hesitation 

was further increased by the sack of Rome, which, coming 

at this time (1527), impressed him with the power of the 

emperor. Under the terror of recent punishment Clement 

opined that he had better proceed cautiously in a divorce 



330 



The Modern Period 



Henry de- 
termines on 
a breach 
with Rome. 



The main 
steps in the 
breach. 



Parliament 
completes 
Henry's 
■work. 



that touched the family honor of Charles V. so intimately. 
His policy, therefore, was to put Henry off, and, to gain 
time, he even ordered, in 1529, an investigation to be con- 
ducted in England by two special legates, Wolsey and an 
Italian, named Campeggio. But no more came of this 
move than of any other ; Campeggio suddenly betook him- 
self home, and Henry, outraged by the failure of his hopes, 
disgraced Wolsey and might have had him executed if an 
opportune death had not intervened (1530). 

Henry, despairing more and more of getting what he 
wanted from the pope, now gradually determined on the 
breach with Rome. If the English Church were declared 
independent, the divorce would go before an English ec- 
clesiastical tribunal, and how such a court would decide 
was not a matter of doubt in Henry's mind. Luckily, too, 
the breach with Rome was popular with the English people, 
who had long looked with disgust upon papal interference 
in national affairs. Thus Henry, without very great diffi- 
culty, destroyed by a series of measures the pope's author- 
ity in England. As far as he took advice, he gave ear to 
two councillors, Thomas Cranmer, a learned divine, and 
Thomas Cromwell, who, once a servant of Wolsey, soon 
took Wolsey's place in the council. 

Henry's leading measures were as follows : first, he 
secured by threats the submission of the English clergy to 
his authority ; then, appointing his friend Cranmer arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, he referred the divorce to him (1533) 
and got a decree of separation ; finally, he married Anne 
Boleyn and proclaimed her queen (1533). 

All this implied a challenge of the pope which was only 
likely to prove successful if followed by a legal dissolution 
of all bonds uniting Rome and England. Parliament was 
therefore called in at this point, and in 1534 completed 
Henry's work. It forbade all appeals to Rome "of what- 



England tinder the Ttidors 33' 

ever nature, condition, or quality; " it gave the king the 
right to appoint the bishops ; and finally it passed the Act The Act of 
of Supremacy, by which it declared that the king " was the j^^.^"^^^^' 
only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England." 

Thus Henry, head of the state, became also head of the 
Church, or, briefly, the English pope. And never did a 
pope at Rome insist more strenuously on his authority. Henry, the 
Henry would brook no opposition to the new arrangements, pJL^^^^ 
and in order to terrorize the malcontents executed two of 
the leading men of England, Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas 
More, the humanist. The crime of these men was that 
they did not believe in the late changes. 

From the first, it was an interesting question how far Henry's at- 
Henry would depart from the accepted Catholic organ- ^^^ Protes- 
ization, doctrines, and practices, and how far he would tantism. 
adopt the Protestant position. The crisis terminating in 
the Act of Supremacy had established the independence of 
the English Church from Rome, no more. To a certain 
extent, however, Henry was likely to be influenced by the 
Protestant Reformation, especially in view of the fact that 
his most trusted councillor was Cromwell, who had strong 
Lutheran leanings. 

A number of innovations were therefore gradually ad- Protestant 
mitted. The English Bible was put into every church; changes, 
the doctrines concerning purgatory, indulgences, and 
masses for the dead were condemned ; pilgrimages were 
forbidden and miraculous images destroyed. But the 
most incisive innovation was the suppression of the mon- 
asteries. 

There existed at Henry's accession about 1,200 monas- The sup- 
teries in England, the wealth of which, especially in land, was the^monas- 
very considerable. Many of these monasteries had become teries, 1536. 
corrupt, and the whole system no longer enjoyed the favor 
with which it was once regarded. Cardinal Wolsey him- 



332 



The Modern Period 



Henry calls 
a halt in the 
matter of 
reform. 



The Six 
Articles, 
1.539 



His unprof- 
itable for- 
eign policy. 



self had therefore begun the pohcy of suppression, and now 
under Cromwell it was completed. In 1536 Henry got a 
decree from parliament which rang the death-knell of the 
monks in England. The monastic foundations were de- 
clared the property of the king, who made them over in 
large part to the nobility, and applied the rest to the en- 
dowment of bishoprics and schools, or in wasteful court 
expenditures. 

Thus far the majority of the English people had con- 
curred with Henry, for, although Catholic in feeling, they 
wished to be free from Rome and believed that the monas- 
teries were an evil. But Henry was now to receive a warn- 
ing that he had gone as far as the people would permit. In 
the north of England, where mediaeval conditions contin- 
ued to linger, a protest was raised against the suppression 
of the monasteries which soon took the form of a revolt. 
This was the so-called Pilgrimage of Grace (1536), which, 
although vigorously suppressed, had an effect in that it 
convinced the king that he had better go no further for the 
present. He therefore not only called a halt, but in 1539 
fell a victim to a partial reaction. Frightened by the ad- 
vance of Lutheran opinion, Henry disgraced and executed 
Cromwell, the Lutheran sympathizer, and published a Con- 
fession of Faith in Six Articles in which he declared for a 
number of leading Catholic doctrines, such as celibacy of 
the clergy, auricular confession, and transubstantiation. 
For the rest of his reign, Henry punished both Protestants 
and Catholics, the former for differing with the Six Arti- 
cles, the latter for refusing to accept his supremacy. 

Henry's foreign policy was throughout his reign confus- 
ing and uninteresting. The important political matter of 
the time was the rivalry between France and Spain, the 
respective sovereigns of which were Francis I. and Charles 
V. Henry's alliance was solicited by both monarchs, and 



England tinder the Tudors 333 

he sided sometimes with Charles and sometimes with Fran- 
cis, but no one has ever succeeded in proving that he 
gained anything by his continental activity. 

A personal page in Henry's history demands at least His six mar- 
passing recognition. It presents the story of his marriages. "^S^^* 
His native vulgarity and lordly caprice exhibit them- 
selves here without relief. We have already followed the 
tragedy of Catharine of Aragon to the coronation of Anne 
Boleyn. Anne Boleyn gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, 
and soon afterward was executed (1536). The next wife 
was Jane Seymour, who died a natural death, leaving a son 
Edward. The fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, did not suit 
Henry at all, and was hardly married when she was di- 
vorced (1540). As the fifth wife, Catharine Howard, 
proved untrue, she was beheaded (1542), and so room was 
made for a sixth, Catharine Parr, who, although occasion- 
ally in imminent danger, managed, by submission, to out- 
live the royal bluebeard. 

Henry died in 1547. Having been given the right by The succes- 
Parliament to determine the succession by will, he entailed ^*°"' 
the crown upon his three children, Edward, Mary, and 
Elizabeth, in the order named. 

Edward VI. ( 1547-53)- 

Gardiner, pp. 412-20. 
Green, pp. 357-361. 

As Edward VI. was but nine years old when his father 
lay at the point of death, Henry provided, during his son's 
minority, a council of regency, at the head of which he Theprotect- 
put Edward's maternal uncle, the duke of Somerset. 
Somerset, however, disregarding Henry's will, assumed 
complete control, with the title of protector. 

The great question of the hour was the question of relig- 
ion. The Henrian Church, being neither Catholic nor 



or Somerset. 



334 



The Modern Period 



The adop- 
tion of Prot- 
estantism. 



The Prayer 
Book and 
the Articles 
of Religion. 



Northum- 
berland as- 
sumes the 
regency. 



The pre- 
cocity of 
Edward. 



Protestant, displeased the faithful of either fold, and Somer- 
set, who had Lutheran sympathies, resolved before long to 
carry through a thorough Protestant reform. He had in 
this the support of Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, 
who was also a Protestant at heart. These two men 
now inaugurated an era of change which Anglican his- 
torians usually speak of as "The Protestant Misrule." 
Pictures and altars were swept out of the churches, the rich 
vestments and the sacred processions were abandoned, and 
the Latin mass was replaced by an English service. In 
order to make possible the conduct of this service, Cranmer 
issued in 1549 the English Book of Common Prayer. At 
the same time, the English Church shifted from Catholic 
to Protestant doctrinal ground, and in the year 1552 there 
was issued a new Confession of Faith, known as the Forty- 
two Articles of Religion, which is saturated through and 
through with the Protestant and even the Calvinistic spirit. 
Entirely in line with these changes, the principle of celi- 
bacy was abandoned and the clergy permitted to marry. 

The protector Somerset, however, did not live to com- 
plete the establishment of the Protestant Church. Dis- 
content was rife everywhere at his inconsiderate manner 
and his revolutionary programme, and in 1549 he fell a vic- 
tim to a plot of the nobles, and was beheaded. Although 
he was succeeded in power by his political opponent, the 
duke of Northumberland, the new regent substantially 
adopted Somerset's radically Protestant policy. 

Even had Northumberland been willing to make con- 
cessions to the Catholic party, he would have been hin- 
dered by the will of the young king. Edward VL was, as 
is frequently the case with invalid child-ren, a boy of re- 
markable precocity. His uncle Somerset had given him a 
severe Protestant training, and he pored over the Script- 
ures with the fervor of a Calvinistic preacher. However, 



berland's 
succession 



England under the Titdors 355 

in the course of the year 1553, his vitality becoming very 
apparently exhausted, the question of the succession came 
to the front. On his death the crown would rightfully fall 
to Mary, who, like her Spanish mother Catharine, was a 
devout Catholic. The prospect of her reign frightened 
Northumberland, who, as a Protestant, had reason to fear Northum 
a Catholic sovereign. He therefore played upon the young 
king's Protestant conscience with such skill that he per- plot, 
suaded him to make a testament excluding his sisters Mary 
and Elizabeth from the throne, and nominating as his suc- 
cessor a great-granddaughter of Henry VII., the Lady Jane 
Grey.^ The calculating Northumberland, however, had 
previously married Lady Jane Grey to one of his own sons, 
Guilford Dudley. Thus he hoped to perpetuate his power. 
In July, 1553, Edward died. 

^^ry, 1553-58- 

Gardiner, pp. 420-27. 
Green, pp. 361-69. 

Edward had hardly expired when Northumberland pro- Mary hailed 
claimed Lady Jane Grey. But if he had any hope of carry- 
ing his candidate he was soon disillusioned. The mass of 
the people saw through his despicable intrigue and rallied 
around Mary, their legitimate sovereign. They hailed 
Mary gladly, because not only their sense of justice, but 
also their dearest hopes, designated her as their queen. For 
the majority of the people were still Catholic, and the rad- 
ical Protestantism of Edward and Northumberland had 

» Genealogy of Lady Jane Grey. 

Henr y VII. 

I I ~"l 

Henry VIII. Margaret Mary = D. of Suffolk. 

Frances = Henry Grey 

Jane Grey. 



as sov- 
ereign. 



336 



The Modern Period 



The Lady 
Jane Grey. 



Mary plans 
a full Catho- 
lic restora- 
tion. 



The Act of 
Supremacy 
abolished. 



aroused their animosity. From Mary they expected the 
return of the mass and of the ancient Catholic practices, 
from which they were not yet weaned in their hearts. 

The Lady Jane Grey was, in consequence of this un- 
hesitating devotion of the Enghsh people to their rightful 
sovereign, crowned only to be deposed again. Northum- 
berland justly paid for his ambition with his head. Un- 
fortunately, Lady Jane Grey, who was utterly innocent of 
the plot to depose Queen Mary, and who had accepted 
the crown from her father-in-law almost against her will, 
paid the same penalty. 

It is certain that if Mary had adopted a moderate Catho- 
lic policy, her reign would have met the wishes of her peo- 
ple. But Mary had nothing about her suggesting com- 
promise. Her Spanish blood called upon her to be faith- 
ful, above all things, to her faith. She, therefore, planned 
nothing less than a return of England to the pope's fold — 
a full Catholic restoration. And that was a delusion. For, 
however the English people were attached to Catholic 
practices, the Act of Supremacy, proclaiming the English 
independence of Rome, had the consent of the nation. 

The very first acts of Mary's reign left no doubt about 
her policy. The parliament, always obedient to a word 
from the throne, straightway abolished all the acts which 
had been voted under Edward, re-established the old faith, 
and forbade the new. When the married clergymen had 
been expelled and the old liturgy had been introduced, the 
last measure necessary for the undoing of the work of the 
past years could be undertaken. In November, 1554, there 
arrived in London Cardinal Pole, the legate of the pope, 
and the parliament having abolished the Act of Supremacy 
of 1534, the English nation was solemnly received back by 
Pole into the bosom of Mother Church. 

If the ultra-Catholic policy of Mary alienated popular 



England under the Tudors 337 

sympathy, she still further aroused the hostility of her sub- Unpopular 
jects by her marriage with a foreigner, Philip, son and heir '"^/jf^puM- 
of Charles V. (1554). But as opposition to her increased, 
her Tudor imperiousness rose to meet it and led her soon 
to adopt that policy of persecution which has won for her 
from a Protestant posterity the title of Bloody Mary, and Unpopular 
has made her reign famous as the period of the Protestant turns'^"" 
martyrs. The record of deaths is heavy : sixty-five men 
died by the fagot in the year 1555, seventy in 1556. 
Their stanchness in death did more toward establishing 
Protestantism in England than the doctrinal fervor of an 
army of Calvinistic preachers could have done. It was 
even as Bishop Latimer said to Bishop Ridley at the stake : 
"Master Ridley, play the man; we shall this day, by 
God's grace, light such a candle in England as I trust 
shall never be put out." For the stout part they played, 
Latimer and Ridley head the Protestant martyrology. But 
the persecution struck a more prominent, if not a more 
noble, victim than these, in the person of the deposed arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. This was the celebrated Cranmer, 
who had served under two kings. Cranmer, who had always 
shown a subservient spirit, flinched when the trial came and 
denied his faith. But in the face of death his courage came 
back to him. He thrust his right hand into the flame, and 
steadying it there, said, resolutely: "This is the hand 
that wrote the recantation, therefore it first shall suffer 
punishment." 

If Edward's radical Protestantism made his reign de- The loss of 
tested, Mary's radical Catholicism produced the same re- *-**^'^' 
suit. The hatred of her subjects soon pursued her even 
into her palace. She was a quiet, tender woman, whose 
intolerance was more the crime of the age than her own, 
and the harvest of aversion which was springing up about 
her was more than she could bear. Besides, her marriage 



338 



The Modern Period 



Tennyson, 
Queen Mary 
(drama). 



The glori- 
ous reign 
of Queen 
Elizabeth. 



The charac- 
ter of Eliza- 
beth. 



was unfortunate. She loved Philip, but Philip cared noth- 
ing for her, and did not even trouble to hide his indifference 
to the sickly and ill-favored woman, twelve years older than 
himself. To crown her misfortunes, she allowed her Span- 
ish husband to draw her into a war with France, in which 
Philip won all the honor and Mary suffered all the disgrace, 
by the loss of the last point which remained to England 
from her former possessions in France, Calais (155S). 
Doubtless the loss of Calais was for England a benefit in 
disguise ; she was thereby cut off from the continent and 
directed to her true sphere, the sea. But to the living 
generation of Englishmen the capture seemed an insuffer- 
able dishonor, and no one felt it more keenly than Mary. 
*' When I die," she is reported to have said shortly before 
her death (November, 1558), " Calais will be found written 
on my heart. ' ' 

Elizabeth (ijj8-i6oj). 

Gardiner, pp. 428 8i. 
Green, pp. 369-442. 

Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn's daughter and Mary's younger 
half-sister, succeeded to the throne on Mary's death, and in- 
augurated a reign which proved to be the most glorious of 
any which England has ever had. Under Elizabeth, Pro- 
testantism was firmly established in England ; the great 
Catholic sea-power, Spain, was challenged and defeated ; 
and English life flowered in the poetry of Shakespeare and 
his contemporaries more exuberantly and more exquisitely 
than ever before or since. 

To the national greatness, to which England suddenly 
raised herself in the sixteenth century, Elizabeth has had 
the good fortune to lend her name. In consequence she 
appears in a halo that is calculated to blind us to her faults. 
Of these, however, she had her full human quota : vanity, 



England under the Tiidors 339 

fickleness, and love of amorous intrigue being especially 
prominent. But these qualities hardly more than super- 
ficially obscure her great merits. Throughout her reign 
she exhibited a statesmanlike grasp of circumstances and 
an inflexible determination. 

As regards the great matter of religion, which her con- Her relig- 
temporaries regarded as the eminently important thing in £°"^ md"- 
life, Elizabeth seems to have been comparatively lukewarm. 
Thus inclined by nature to be moderate, she was delivered 
from the destructive radicalism of both Edward and Mary, 
and happily given to the search rather of what united than 
what divided men. 

The chief organs of Elizabeth's government were the Privy Coun- 
Privy Council and the parliament. The Privy Council P., ^^^^^^' 
answered the purpose of a modern cabinet, and Elizabeth 
regularly heard its advice before arriving at a decision. No 
little credit is due to her for her wise choice of councillors, 
and especially for the confidence she put in William Cecil, 
Lord Burghley, who was the greatest English statesman of 
the time. The Privy Council, a body of her own choice, 
Elizabeth was far more anxious to consult than the parlia- 
ment, a body elected by the people. Parliament under 
Elizabeth remained therefore what it had been under the 
other Tudors, an obedient instrument of the royal will. 
The real power was concentrated almost absolutely in Eliz- 
abeth's hands. 

The great question of the Reformation was the first ques- Elizabeth 

tion that confronted Elizabeth. Edward had followed a ^■^lopts a 

moderate 
policy of radical Protestantism and had failed; Mary had religious 

followed a policy of radical Catholicism and had failed; it po^'^^y- 

was plain that the wise course would be a moderate course, 

and should lie between these two. 

Elizabeth therefore began by letting the Parliament pass, 

in 1559, the Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity, which 



340 



The Modern Period 



The Acts of 
Supremacy 
and Uni- 
formity, 

1559- 



Elizabeth's 
attitude 
toward the 
Catholics. 



Puritans 
and Sepa- 
ratists. 



are the foundations of the English Church as that Church 
stands to-day. By the Act of Supremacy the independence 
of England from Rome was again proclaimed and Elizabeth 
declared the sui)reme governor of the realm in spiritual as 
well as temporal matters; by the Act of Uniformity the 
clergy were forbidden to depart from the service laid down 
in the Book of Common Prayer. Later on, it may here be 
noted, uniformity was also required in the matter of the 
creed which was stated in the Thirty-nine Articles, a re- 
vision of the Forty-two Articles of Edward's time. Thus 
the Anglican Church (also called Episcopal Church, be- 
cause of its government by bishops) was finally established, 
aud practically in the form in which we have it to-day. 

Elizabeth's policy of a moderate Protestantism con- 
formed to the wishes of the majority of the English people. 
In consequence the feeling of uncertainty, occasioned by 
the rapid changes of the previous reigns, was soon replaced 
by a merited confidence. Slowly Protestantism won its way 
into the hearts of the English people and crowded out the 
mediaeval faith. But for a long time the Catholic party 
was still a considerable factor in English life. However, 
Elizabeth was not, strictly speaking, a persecutor. Freedom 
of worship she would not suffer, and the Catholics had to 
attend the national Church or pay fines for absenting them- 
selves (recusancy fines). But they were not punished in their 
persons if they did not engage in political conspiracies. 

In the proportion in \vhich the Catholics decreased in 
number and importance, another party, as ill-disposed in 
its own way to the Anglican Church as the Catholics 
were in theirs, increased. This was the party of the Prot- 
estant radicals, who were not satisfied with Elizabeth's 
half-measures, and clamored for a thorough-going Protes- 
tant organization. The non-conformists, as these Protes- 
tants were called, soon split into two parties, Puritans and 



England under the Tiidors 341 

Separatists. The Puritans were moderate opponents, who 
did not sever their connection with the Anglican Church, 
because they hoped to win it over to their programme. 
Their name was originally a nick-name, given them by 
their Anglican adversaries in consequence of their demand 
for what they called a purer worship. This purer worship 
aimed at stripping the Anglican Church of many of the 
Catholic practices which had been retained, such as genu- 
flections, wearing the surplice, and decorating the altar. 
The Separatists (also called Brownists, after their founder, 
Robert Brown) were radicals who knew no compromise. The 
Established Church being to them no better than the Roman 
Church, they refused to attend it, and thus made themselves 
liable to persecution under the Act of Uniformity. 

When Elizabeth ascended the throne her religious policy Elizabeth 
was so moderate that both Philip and the pope for awhile compelled 
maintained good relations with her. But gradually a cool- Protestant- 
ness sprang up, and in 1570, the pope announced that his *^'"' 
patience was exhausted by publishing a bull of excommuni- 
cation against the queen. From this time, England more 
and more and almost unconsciously assumed the leadership 
of the Protestant world, and since the Catholic reaction was 
growing more ambitious every day, it was plain that a great 
world-struggle between Protestantism and Catholicism, 
conducted chiefly by their respective champions, England 
and Spain, could not be long put off. 

Every event in Elizabeth's reign contributed to precipi- The affairs 
tate the struggle ; notably the queen's relations with Scot- of Scotland, 
land and Scotland's sovereign, Mary Stuart. Scotland 
had been England's foe for centuries, and the bitterness 
between the two kingdoms was probably never fiercer than 
at this time. Henry VII. had wisely attempted to estab- 
lish a greater harmony between the royal houses by mar- 
rying his daughter Margaret to James IV. But war was 



342 



The Modern Period 



Schiller, 
Mary Stuart 
(drama). 



Mary sent 
to France. 



Scotland 
becomes 
Protestant, 
1560. 



not thereby averted. James IV. and James V. both sym- 
pathized with France and both perished in the struggle 
against England, the latter (1542) when his only heir and 
successor, Mary, was but a few weeks old. Mary Stuart's 
descent from Henry VII. and the prospective failure of 
Henry VIII. 's direct descendants, opened for the child the 
prospect of the English succession. On the death of Mary 
Tudor (1558), there was, with the exception of Elizabeth, 
no other descendant of Henry VII. alive as prominent as 
she. To the Catholics, moreover, who saw in the daugh- 
ter of Anne Boleyn merely an illegitimate child, she had 
even a better claim than Elizabeth. Out of this relation of 
the two women to the English throne sprang their intense 
hatred of each other, and the long and bloody drama of 
their jealousy, ending in Mary's death upon the scaffold. 

When Mary succeeded to the throne of Scotland she 
was, as has been said, a child in arms. Her mother, 
another Mary, of the French family of Guise, assumed the 
regency, and in order to withdraw her child from possible 
English influences, sent her over to France, where she was 
soon betrothed to the heir of the throne. Thus the inter- 
ests of France and Scotland were newly knit, to the det- 
riment of England. 

Mary of Guise soon met in Scotland the difficulties 
associated with the Reformation that every sovereign of 
that day had to face, for during her regency a number of 
enthusiastic Calvinist preachers, among whom John Knox 
(1505-72) occupies the first place, began proclaiming with 
success the new faith. For awhile the issue trembled in 
the balance, but when the nobles, lured by the prospect of 
the rich church lands which awaited secularization, threw 
in their lot with the preachers, the success of the Scotch 
Reformation was assured. A last desperate attempt of the 
regent to put down the Protestants with the aid of the 



England under the Tudors 343 

French troops having failed, owing chiefly to the assistance 
which the cunning Elizabeth lent the Scotch rebels, the 
regent was obliged to sign the treaty of Edinburgh (1560) 
and send the French troops home. As she died this same 
year, and Queen Mary was still in France, the Protestant lords 
suddenly found themselves masters of the situation. In a par- 
liament composed of the friends of Knox, they established 
the new Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Kirk (1560). 

Up to this time the absent Queen Mary had not con- Mary comes 
cerned herself much with the doings of far-away Scotland. *° Scotland, 
Her husband, Francis II., had lately (1559) become 
king of France, and ever since the death of Mary Tudor 
(1558) she had, supported by a good part of the Catholic 
world, looked upon herself as queen, too, of England. 
But the year 1560 disturbed her outlook greatly. Her 
husband Francis II. died, and Elizabeth made herself 
tolerably secure at home. Scotland alone seemed to be 
left to Mary, and as Scotland needed its sovereign, she 
suddenly (1561) hurried thither. 

When Mary landed in Scotland she was only nineteen Her difficul- 
years old and no better than a stranger. Add to this fact ^'^^' 
the circumstance that she was confronted by a lawless 
nobility, and, as a Catholic, was an object of suspicion to 
her Protestant subjects, and you have the elements of a 
problem that even a better and wiser person than Mary 
might not have solved. 

But though Mary proved inadequate, she was a woman Her char- 
of many admirable gifts. She had been brought up in ^cter, 
France in the refinement that adorned the court of the 
Valois ; she had wit and beauty, nay, more, she had a 
certain indefinable charm which enabled her to dominate 
all men whom she approached. But unfortunately Mary 
was also the slave of her passions, and therein lay the 
distinction between her and her cousin Elizabeth. Eliza- 



344 



The Modern Period 



Mary's 

tragical 

marriage. 



The Scotch 
revolt. 



Mary seeks 
refuge in 
England, 
1568. 



beth was in the final instance always the statesman guided by 
the sense of her duty to her country ; Mary in the final in- 
stance was always a woman, swayed by her love or her hatred. 

In the year 1565 Mary married her cousin, Lord Darn- 
ley, and from that moment everything went badly. Lord 
Darnley turned out to be proud, loutish, and dissolute. 
He plotted with a party of the nobles hostile to Mary, and 
in conjunction with them planned and executed the murder 
of the Italian David Rizzio, one of Mary's secretaries 
(1566). Such love as Mary had for Darnley now turned 
to hate, and when in February, 1567, Darnley was mur- 
dered in a house just outside of Edinburgh, report im- 
mediately connected Mary with the crime. Its real author 
was soon known to be the earl of Bothwell, a dare-devil 
cavalier, who was deeply in love with the (jueen, but was 
the queen his accomplice? The question has been asked 
again and again, but never answered conclusively. By 
what followed the murder, however, Mary compromised 
her good name beyond help. Not only did she fail to 
prosecute Bothwell seriously, but shortly after the murder 
she married him. 

The result might have been foreseen. Her subjects, 
horrified at her conduct, revolted, and although she made 
a brave resistance she was defeated, and by the year 1568 
found herself without sujiport. Despairing of success, she 
now left Scotland in the hands of her enemies, who had 
proclaimed the accession of her infant son James, and 
sought refuge with Elizabeth. It was not a happy step. 
Mary became Elizabeth's prisoner, and won her release only, 
after nineteen years, by laying her head upon the block. 

The cue for this ungenerous conduct of the English 
queen toward her suppliant cousin is to be found in the 
political situation of Europe, We must again recall that 
this was the period of the Catholic reaction, and that in 



England under the Tndors 345 

measure as the movement ripened toward a climax, the The strug- 
struggle between England and Spain was becoming inevit- &l^Y^*t" 
able. Luckily at the approach of the great crisis the 
temper of Englishmen was hardening to steel. Conscious 
of their power, they even invited the threatening storm. 
Free-booters — Sir Francis Drake and others — harried the 
Spaniards on the Atlantic main, and soldiers enlisted under 
William of Orange to fight for freedom in the Netherlands. 
Finally Elizabeth's grant of open aid to the revolted Dutch 
made an end of Philip's patience. He prepared against 
England an unexampled armament. 

It was the rumor of Philip's invasion of England, coupled 
with the renewed activity of the Catholic supporters of 
Mary, that cost the unfortunate queen of Scots her life. Execution 
Probably it had little value to her and death was not un- 1^87^^^' 
welcome. In February, 1587, Mary was executed at 
Fotheringay. 

The next year the war between Spain and England came 
to a head. Philip, having at length got together one hun- 
dred and thirty-t\vo ships, proudly called his Invincible 
Armada, despatched them toward the English coasts. The 
island-realm was thoroughly alive to its danger. In the 
face of the foreign invader all religious differences were The Eng- 
forgotten and replaced by a flaming national enthusiasm !*^ ^'^t^th'^^ 
uniting all parties. An eloquent witness of this elation is Armada, 
furnished by the fact that the English mustered even more 
ships than the Spaniards, finally no less than one hundred 
and ninety-seven. Though these ships were no match in 
size for the Spanish galleons, by their speed, their excellent 
equipment, and the perfect seamanship of their sailors they 
more than made up the difference in bulk. The Spanish 
fleet had hardly appeared, toward the end of July, 1588, The defeat 
off the west coast of England, before the small and rapid « . 
English vessels darted in upon their rear and flank. The 



346 



The Modern Period 



The 

Armada, a 
turning- 
point. 



Elizabeth's 
last years. 



England 
adopts the 
sea. 



damage which was done the Spaniards during a passage of 
the Channel lasting eight days, forced them to harbor off 
Calais for repairs. Here a number of fire-ships sent among 
them discomfited them so completely that the admiral gave 
up the enterprise. Finding the Channel blocked behind 
him, he tried to make for home by the coast of Scotland, 
but untimely storms struck across his i)ath and completed 
the work of the enemy. 

England was safe ; and more than England, the cause of 
Protestantism the world over. For with the Armada the 
Catholic reaction reached its height, and with the Armada's 
failure there set in an inevitable ebb. 

As for Elizabeth, the coming of the Spanish Armada was 
the climax of her brilliant reign. Henceforth her people 
identified her with the national triumph and worshipped 
her as the very spirit of England. But her private life 
slowly entered into eclipse. She was old, childless, and 
lonely. Her last sincere attachment, of which the earl of 
Essex was the object, brought her nothing but sorrow, for 
Essex plotted against her and had to be executed (1601). 
Slowly the shadows thickened around her and in the year 
1603 she died. 

Most wonderful to consider remains England's varied 
progress during this reign. In fact, the reign became the 
starting-point of a new development, as, under Elizabeth, 
Englishmen for the first time grew aware that their true 
realm was the sea. The great sailors like Drake, Davis, 
and Frobisher voyaged to the remotest lands, and though 
they established no colonies, and though such attempts as 
were made by Sir Walter Raleigh, for instance, in Virginia, 
turned out to be premature, the idea of a colonial empire 
in the future was implanted in the minds of Englishmen ; 
and for the present there were established lucrative com- 
mercial relations with various parts of the world. Before 



England under the Tudors 347 

the death of Elizabeth, England, which had theretofore 
allowed Spain a monopoly of the sea, had fairly entered 
upon the path of oceanic expansion. The spread of the 
Anglo-Saxon race, one of the most significant events of 
Modern History, may therefore be dated from the time of 
Good Queen Bess. 

With the increase of commerce, there came an increase The ex- 
of industry and wealth and a more elevated plane of living, Pif^^^^" 
which showed itself in a greater luxury of dress, in a court- 
lier society, and in the freer patronage of the theatre and 
the arts. Altogether England was new-made. The Italian 
Renaissance poured out its cornucopia of gifts upon her, 
and there followed such an energy of existence and expan- 
sion of the intellectual life of man as made this period one 
of the great culture-epochs of history. 

The art by which this new life was immortalized was the 
drama, and Christopher Marlowe (d. 1593), Ben Jonson 
(d. 1637), and William Shakespeare (d. 1616) are its Shake- 
great luminaries. But the other fields of art and science §P^^^^ ^"<^ 
^ Bacon. 

were not left uncultivated. Edmund Spenser (d. 1599) 
wrote the great epic poem of the English tongue, the Faerie 
Queen, and Francis Bacon (d. 1626), the philosopher, 
gave a new zest to science by referring man directly to 
nature for his facts. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Humanism in England. Seebohm, The Oxford Rrformers. Green, 

(larger work), Vol. II., pp. 77-106. More's Utopia, Cassell's 
Library ($0.10) or in Camelot Series ($0.50). 

2. The Murder of Darnley and the Question of Mary's Guilt. Burton, 

History of Scotland. 8 vols. Blackwood. See Vol. IV. Green 
(larger work). Vol. II., pp. 347-64- Creighton, The Age of Elizabeth, 
(Epochs). Pp. 75-80. $1.00. Scribner. Hosack, Mary, Queen of 
Scots, and Her Accusers. 2 vols. Blackwood. 

3. English Civilization at the Time of Elizabeth. Green (larger work). 

Vol. II. Ch. VII. Traill, Social England. 6 vols. Putnam. See 
Vol. III., Ch. XI. and XII. 



348 



The Modern Period 



CHAPTER XXII 



THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS AND THE TRI- 

UMPH OF THE SEVEN UNLFED PROVINCES 

(1 566- 1648) 

LITERATURE.— Johnson (as before), pp. 315-87. Fisher (as before), 

285-315. 
J. L. Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic. 13 vols. $6.00. Harper. 

Also, History 0/ the United Netherlands. 4 vols. $8.00. Harper. 

A\so, John 0/ Bcirneveld. 2 vols. $4.00. Harper. 
Rulh 'PuX.nam^ li'illiam the Silent. 2 vols. $3.75. Putnam. 
Harrison, ;r////Vi;« Me ^/Vch/ (Foreign Statesmen). $0.75. Macmillan. 

The Nether- The part of Europe which has been designated from 

^f"'^£,""^^^ of old as the Netherlands or Low Countries is embraced 
the Burgun- 

dian princes, a-pproximately by modern Holland and Belgium. In the 
Middle Age the Netherlands consisted of a number of feudal 
principalities or provinces, constituted as duchies, coun- 
ties, or lordships (for instance the duchy of Brabant, the 
county of Flanders, the county of Holland), all of which 
were practically independent of all foreign powers and of 
each other, although there was not one to which France 
or Germany did not, by some unforgotten feudal right, 
have a claim. In the later Middle Age the House of Bur- 
gundy, a collateral branch of the House of France, had at- 
tempted to consolidate these provinces into a state, which 
should be independent of both the western and the eastern 
neighbor ; but before the project had succeeded the family 
died out in the male branch with Charles the Bold (1477). 
Thereupon Louis XI. of France seized the duchy of Bur- 
gundy, which was a fief of France, but the Netherlands 
proper passed into the hands of Charles's daughter, Mary, 
and from her, through her marriage with Emperor Maxi- 
milian, to the House of Hapsburg. At the time of the 



The Revolt of the Netherlands 349 

Reformation, the Netherlands were therefore ruled by 

Charles V. 

The Netherlands are peopled by two races, Kelts and The Kelts 

Teutons, who, on the whole, have trot along very well to- ^ 

' ' . . Germans, 

gether here. The Kelts are a minority, speak a French 

dialect, and inhabit the southern districts of what is now 

Belgium. The Teutons inhabit the northern half of what 

is now Belgium and the whole of what is now Holland. 

Although originally one in blood and speech, they have 

been artificially divided, by the chances of history, into 

Flemish, the Teutons of Belgium, and Dutch, the Teutons 

of Holland, and employ two slightly different German 

dialects. 

A good part of the land of the Low Countries is below Physical 

the level of the sea, and has been won from that element f^^-tures : 

1-11 , , , dykes and 

only m undaunted, century-long struggles by means of a canals. 

system of dykes, which form the rampart of the land 
against the hungry water. But the sea was not the only 
enemy to overcome in order to render the Netherlands 
habitable. The equally great danger arising to life and 
property in these parts from the periodical inundations of 
the great rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, had 
to be met by an enterprise no less gigantic than the dykes. 
To carry off the overflow there was devised and gradually 
completed a system of canals, which covers the country 
like a net and distributes the water from the rivers over a 
vast area. The plentiful water-ways of Holland and Bel- 
gium, although due in the first instance to necessity, have 
proved a pure blessing. They have given the country the 
greenest and richest meadows of Europe, and besides, fur- 
nish thoroughfares for traffic, which have the merit of 
cheapness, durability, and picturesqueness. 

The reign of Charles V. proved very advantageous for 
the material development of the Netherlands, and was 



3 so 



The Modern Period 



The ques- 
tion of Prot- 
estantism. 



The acces- 
sion of 
Philip, 1555. 



The activity 
of the In- 
quisition. 



unsuccessful in only one particular, religion. The Prot- 
estant agitation wliich troubled Germany was naturally 
disrespectful of landmarks, and at an early point of its 
history was carried into the Low Countries. Charles, who 
was forced, as we have seen, by his dependence on the 
princes of the Diet, to a disastrous dilatory policy in Ger- 
many, was not the man to hesitate when he had the power 
to act. In the Netherlands the Lutheran heresy was met 
on its appearance by a relentless hostility, which waxed 
more and more fierce as Charles's reign proceeded. The 
Inquisition, already engaged in its hateful activity in 
Spain, was established in the Netherlands also, and con- 
fiscations, imprisonments, and burnings at the stake be- 
came common occurrences. Still Protestantism refused to 
disappear. The original Lutlieran opinions were even 
strengtliened by the invasion of Calvinism, and at the end 
of Charles's reign heresy was more firmly established than 
ever before. 

That end came on October 25, 1555, when Charles, 
broken by his failure in Germany, resigned his crown, in a 
ceremonial session of the States-General of the Netherlands, 
to his son and heir, Philip II. Unfortunately Philip, 
owing to liis harsh Spanish qualities, was even less likely 
than his father to find a settlement for the religious 
troubles of the Netherlands. The Inquisition was immedi- 
ately spurred on to greater activity than before, and the 
fagot fires lighted for the victims of the new faith fairly 
wrapped the country in flames. Though the majority of 
the people were still Catholic, they shared with the Prot- 
estants the aversion to the senseless .policy of the Inquisi- 
tion, and nursed a smothered discontent which boded a 
storm. 

But there was other work in the world for Philip besides 
persecuting the Dutch Protestants. He argued that it 



The Revolt of the Netherlands 351 

would be a fine feather in his cap, if he could close, by a Philip's war 
decisive stroke, his father's long wars with France. He p 
therefore prepared for a vigorous campaign. Having 1556-59. 
defeated the French at Saint Quentin (1557) and at 
Gravelines (1558), and having, in consequence, disposed 
them to a settlement, he concluded with them the Peace 
of Cateau-Cambresis (1559). This peace ended for the 
present the long rivalry of France and Spain concerning 
Italy and the Netherlands, by the admission of Spanish 
supremacy in both those countries. This accomplished, 
Philip resolved to go to Spain. Leaving his half-sister, 
Margaret of Parma, as regent in the Netherlands, he sailed 
away (1559), never to return. 

The Regent Margaret was herself a fairly moderate per- 
son, but the Spanish councillors who controlled her were 
under orders from Phihp to maintain the existing system 
of rigor. The alienation of the people therefore went on 
apace. The nobles, of whom Prince William of Orange 
and Count Egmont were the leaders, were angered by the 
attempt to replace their traditional influence by that of 
foreign favorites, while the people generally were incensed 
by the presence among them of Spanish troops and by the 
increased activity of the abominated Inquisition. Dis- Increasing 
content was plainly ripening to revolt. discontent. 

The signal for the rising was given by the nobles. In The protest 
1565 some of the more hot-headed members of the aristoc- ° ^ j 
racy formed a league, the purpose of which was to secure 
the abolition of the Inquisition, operating, as they put it, 
*' to the great dishonor of the name of God and to the 
total ruin of the Netherlands." In the same document in 
which they made this complaint they avowed their con- 
tinued allegiance to the king. It was not the dynasty 
against which they protested, but the abuse which the 
dynasty upheld. On April 5, 1566, three hundred of 



352 The Modern Period 

The them marched on foot through Brussels, which served as 

eggars. ^j^^ capital of the country, to the palace of the regent, to 
lay a statement of their grievances in her hands. In a 
banquet that followed they took, amidst a scene of un- 
bounded enthusiasm, the name of beggars (gueux), which, 
so the legend runs, was flung at them insultingly by one of 
the favorites of the regent's court, as they presented them- 
selves with their petition. 
The general Tiie bold act of the " beggars " was received with gen- 
1566. ' ^^"^^ applause. Unfortunately it unchained also the long- 

repressed indignation of the people. The government of 
the regent was set at naught, and to all who had suffered 
oppression it seemed that the time had come when the 
restraints that had weighed upon them should be cast 
off. At length the excitement, carefully nursed by 
Calvinistic exhorters, culminated in a furious outbreak. 
The Catholic churches were invaded, their pictured win- 
dows, their saintly images were broken, their crosses and 
altars were shattered to fragments. The ruin of art 
Iconoclasm. wrought by these iconoclasts was incalculable. It was 
weeks before the fury spent itself, and months before the 
government rallied enough of the orderly elements to 
repress the insurgents. Philip had received his warning. 
Would he understand it? 
Philip plans It is very possible that the abolition of the Inquisition 
sends Alva ''^"^ ^^^^ proclamation of religious tolerance, which the 
1567' nobles demanded, would have put an end to all trouble. 

But these ideas were foreign to the rulers of that day, and 
seemed nothing less than deadly sin to a bigoted Catholic 
like Philip. Instead of assisting the regent in confirming 
the recently established order, he planned a fearful ven- 
geance. One of his best generals was the Duke of Alva. 
Soldier and bigot, he was the typical Si)aniard of his day, 
animated with blind devotion to his king and to his faith. 



The Revolt of the Netherlands 353 

Him Philip commissioned with the punishment of the 
Netherlands, and in the summer of 1567, Alva arrived at 
Brussels at the head of an excellent corps of 10,000 
Spaniards, Terror marched in his van, and Orange, just 
before the arrival of the troops, crossed the border into 
safety. 

Alva immediately began his work of military repression. 
A council, famous in history as the Council of Blood, was The Council 
set up to ferret out all who had taken part in the late dis- Blood, 
orders. Thousands were seized by the police and perished 
on the scaffold ; thousands fled from the country. Count 
Egmont, who had refused to flee with Orange, was exe- 
cuted as a warning to the discontented nobles. 

While the country was afflicted with this scourge. Will- 
jam of Orange^ was busying himself with plans for its liber- William of 
ation. He now began that glorious career by which he ^''^"g^- 
founded the liberties of his country and became its hero 
and martyr. There have been many better generals and 
some better statesmen ; what makes William memorable 
is his steadfastness in adversity, which has won for him 
the name of William the Silent. 

In the spring of 1568 William, with the aid of such 
moneys as he could get together, collected an army for the 
purpose of invading the Netherlands. He counted on William's 
being assisted by a rising within, but in this he proved ^V^f^^^ 
mistaken, for the people, terrified by Alva's severity, did failure, 
not as much as budge. Alva therefore, commanding a 
superior infantry, had no difficulty in meeting William's 
forces and scattering them to the winds. 

But the advantage of his position Alva himself soon 
threw away ; he bent the bow till it snapped. In 1571, 
feeling sure of the country and urged by the needs of his 



'Orange was a small principality on the Rhone in France, which 
William's family had acquired by marriage. 



354 



The Modern Period 



The tenth 
penny. 



First suc- 
cess of the 
Dutch 
rebels, 
1572. 



The internal 
rising is 
sustained. 



Alva's 
recall, 1573. 



treasury, he ventured to propose an unheard-of and appall- 
ing tax, called the tenth penny. By this an impost of ten 
per cent, was put upon every commercial transaction, 
including the simple daily purchases for the household. 
Indignation flared up once more. There was only one 
answer for the merchants to make, and they made it by 
closing their shops and suspending business. 

At this juncture occurred the first successful feat of arms 
by the Dutch rebels — the feat from which dates the general 
movement for Dutch independence. The "beggars of the 
sea," hardy Dutch free-booters, swept down suddenly upon 
the little town of Brille, and took it. The whole country 
was electrified by this success, and now the internal rising 
for which Orange had looked for four years in vain took 
place spontaneously, and town after town, especially of the 
provinces of Holland and Zealand, drove out its Spanish 
garrison. Therewith these two provinces had put them- 
selves in the front of tlie opposition, and now calling 
William to their aid, in the capacity of Stadtholder or 
governor, prepared to resist to the utmost. 

But Alva, not easily cowed, prepared immediately to 
stamp out the new rebellion. With his splendid Spanish 
infantry, he won a number of successes, and Mechlin, 
Haarlem, and several places which he recaptured had each 
its tale to tell of bloody and cruel reprisals. But this time 
the Dutch answered courage with courage, and soon feroci- 
ty with ferocity. The success at Brille was the beginning 
of a long war. 

Alva's incapacity to deal with the situation efficiently 
was soon apparent to friend and foe. Six years of govern- 
ment (1567-73) by Council of Blood and Inquisition had 
ended in unqualified disaster, and tired himself of staring 
at the ruin about him he demanded (1573) his recall. 

His successor as Spanish governor-general was Requesens 



The Revolt of the Netherlands 355 

(1573-76). Requesens was a sensible, moderate man, who 
might have done something if matters had not gone so far 
under Alva. But although he abolished the Council of 
Blood and proclaimed an amnesty, everybody continued to 
look upon him with distrust. So he had to proceed with 
the military subjugation of the revolted provinces. The The siege 
most notable event of his lieutenancy was the siege of Ley- 0' Leyden, 
den (1573-74)- When the city seemed for failure of pro- 
visions to be lost, William of Orange resolved on an 
extreme measure : he ordered that the dykes be cut. As 
the waters of the sea rushed over the fields, the ' ' beggars ' ' 
crowded after in their ships, until their heroic efforts brought 
them to the wall of the city. The incident well illustrates 
the desperation of the Dutch resistance. 

The death of Requesens, which occurred in 1576, was The death of 

the indirect cause of a further extension of the revolt. As Requesens 

and the Pac- 
yet it had been confined to the provinces of the north, ification of 

which had generally adopted the Protestantism of Calvin, G"^"^ ^57o- 
and to such occasional cities of the south as inclined tow- 
ard the same faith. Revolt from the Spanish yoke seemed 
to follow wherever Protestantism had gone before. The 
grievances of the southern provinces against Spain were 
certainly as great as those of the north, but as the south- 
erners clung to the Catholic faith, they always retained 
some affection for the Spanish rule. For a brief moment, 
however, following the death of Requesens, north and south, 
Teuton and Kelt, Protestant and Catholic — in a word, the 
United Netherlands — bound themselves together in one re- 
sistance. The occasion was furnished by the general horror 
inspired by the Spanish soldiery, which, left leaderless upon 
the death of Requesens, looted what cities it could, and 
indulged in particular horrors at the rich metropolis of 
Antwerp. The indignation aroused by this lawlessness 
united the country, and in the Pacification of Ghent (1576) 



356 



The Modern Period 



North and 
south goes 
each its 
ov/n way. 



The Union 
of Utrecht, 
1579. 



north and south proclaimed their common interests and 
prepared to make a common stand against the oppressor. 

It was the most auspicious moment of the revolution, but 
it was not destined to bear fruit. Provincial jealousies and 
religious distrust, fomented by the shrewd governors, Don 
John of Austria (1576-78) and the duke of Parma (1578- 
92), who succeeded Requesens, soon annulled the Pacifi- 
cation of Ghent, and drove a wedge between the north and 
south, the result of which we still trace to-day, in the ex- 
istence of a Protestant Holland and a Catholic Belgium. 

It was especially owing to Alexander Farnese, duke of 
Parma, a most excellent general and diplomat, that the 
southern provinces were saved for Spain. He was clever 
enough to flatter their Catholic prejudices and to promise a 
restoration of their political privileges. If he had not been 
constantly interfered with by Philip he might even have re- 
conquered the north. Thus with heavy heart William the 
Silent had gradually to relinquish the hope, extended by 
the Pacification of Ghent, of a united action of the whole 
Netherlands against Spain. Still he never wavered in his 
faith, and soon succeeded, on a smaller scale, in effecting 
an organization of the revolt. Hitherto the resistance had 
been left almost exclusively to the separate provinces. In 
1579, the Protestant provinces of the north, finally seven 
in number (Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gelderland, Over- 
yssel, Groningen, and Friesland), formed, for the purpose 
of an improved defence, the Union of Utrecht. The Ar- 
ticles of the Union of Utrecht, which formed the constitu- 
tion of the Dutch Republic well into modern times, mark 
the entrance of a new state into history. 

Philip had already seen that William the Silent was the 
backbone of the resistance, and that by good or bad means 
the leader must be got rid of if the revolt was to be mas- 
tered. When bribes failed to detach William from the cause 



The Revolt of the Netherlands 357 

of freedom, the Spanish sovereign published a ban against Philip's ban. 
him, declaring his life forfeit, and putting a price upon his 
head. In that fanatic age, many men were seduced by 
such an offer. It is, therefore, no cause for wonder that 
dastardly attempts upon William's life should have become 
common occurrences. At last Balthcisar Gerard, a Catholic William 
enthusiast from Burgundy, fatally shot him as he was com- j' g ' 

ing down the stairway of his palace at Delft (July 10, 

1584)- 

William's death was a heavy blow to the cause of the 

Dutch, especially coming at the time it did. The duke of 
Parma was just then winning victory after victory, and con- William's 
stantly narrowing the territory of his enemies ; in fact successor, 
hardly more than Holland and Zealand still held out 
against him. Nevertheless, these two provinces did not 
abate their resistance, Maurice, the talented seventeen- 
year-old son of William, became Stadtholder and military 
commander, and at his side there rose to influence, as 
Pensionary or Prime Minister, the wise, statesmanlike John 
of Barneveld. 

Still, the new Dutch Republic would hardly have sur- 
vived if help had not come from without. Already during 
William's lifetime frequent efforts had been made to in- Help from 
terest France and England in the war, but neither the one ^"&'^""- 
nor the other could be persuaded to throw in its lot wholly 
with the Netherlands. However, English Protestant opin- 
ion had loudly declared for the Dutch, and Elizabeth, not- 
ing from what quarter the wind blew, began to despatch 
secret money help to William. Finally, in 1585, she sent 
her first open aid — a body of English troops under com- 
mand of her favorite, the earl of Leicester. 

Although Leicester proved thoroughly incompetent, and 
had, in 1587, to retire in disgrace, his interference brought 
relief, and probably through its consequences saved the 



358 



The Modern Period 



Philip 
turns upon 
England. 



The vic- 
tories of 
Maurice. 



The Twelve 
Years' 
Truce and 
the Peace of 
Westphalia. 



Dutch. Abandoning the prey which he had ahiiost capt- 
tured, Philip II. turned furiously upon the English. For 
the next years, he seems to have forgotten his original en- 
terprise ; first the English, and then the French Huguenots 
engrossed his thoughts. There follow the disaster of the 
Armada (1588), the campaigns in France against the Prot- 
estant Henry of Navarre (1589-98), and in general such a 
dissipation and ruin of the Spanish power as made it for- 
ever impossible for Spain to return, with anything like 
the old energy, to the attack upon the young Republic. 
However, Philip II. stubbornly held out against the Nether- 
lands. Even after the death (1592) of his great general, 
the duke of Parma, whose advice had almost always been 
good and had almost never been followed, he continued the 
war. Philip III., who was as proud as his father, suc- 
ceeded him (1598), and he too refused at first, with the 
same obstinacy, to listen to peace. But all this time the 
Dutch fortunes were plainly in the ascendant, and while 
Maurice, who was a gallant soldier, especially skilled in 
conducting a siege, won back from the Spaniards place 
after place, the brave Dutch sailors swept home and foreign 
waters clear of Spanish fleets. 

Under these conditions Spain at last saw herself forced 
to come to terms with her revolted subjects. Too arrogant 
to acknowledge herself defeated and once for all recognize 
the Republic, she would do no more than conclude a 
Twelve Years' Truce (1609). It was not the end, but as 
good as the end. When the truce was over (162 1) the 
Thirty Years' War was raging in Europe, and although 
Spain tried to make the confusion serve her purposes, the 
firm resistance offered by the hardy little nation rendered 
the second effort at the subjugation of the Dutch even more 
vain than the first. When the Peace of Westphalia (1648) 
put an end to the long German war, Spain at last declared 



The Revolt of the Netherlands 359 

herself ready for the great humiliation. Together with 
Germany and the other signatory powers of that famous 
peace-instrument she acknowledged the independence of 
the Dutch Republic. 

The domestic affairs of the new Republic revolved, from Domestic 
the Union of Utrecht through the next two centuries, ^^"""^S ^^* 
around the interesting question of rivalry between the 
provincial and the central authorities. The Union of 
Utrecht had established as central authorities a Council 
of State and a States-General, but their jurisdiction was 
severely limited and they were jealously watched by the 
seven local governments. To this question of unity was 
added what turned out to be largely a class conflict. The 
political power was reserved throughout the provinces to 
the wealthy middle class, but naturally the common people 
began to demand rights, and that demand soon acquired an 
immense importance through the support of the Orange 
family. The House of Orange urged by the people toward 
monarchy and grimly opposed by the burgher oligarchy — 
that is the confrontation of Dutch parties for several cent- 
uries. 

The commercial and intellectual advance of the Re- Commercial 
public, during the course of the war, remains the most ^"d intellec- 
astonishing feature of the period. It was as if the heroic parity. 
struggle gave the nation an irresistible energy, which it 
could turn with success into any channel. The little sea- 
board state, which human valor had made habitable almost 
against the decrees of nature, became, in the seventeenth 
century, not only one of the great political powers of 
Europe, but actually the leader in commerce and in certain 
branches of industry ; contributed, beyond any other na- 
tion, to contemporary science ; and produced a school of 
painting, the glories of which are hardly inferior to those 
of the Italian schools of the Renaissance. Such names as 



360 The Modern Period 

Hugo Grotius (d. 1645), the founder of international 
law; as Spinoza (d, 1677), the philosopher; as Rem- 
brandt (d. 1674) and Frans Hals (d. 1666), the painters, 
furnish sufficient support to the claim of the United Prov- 
inces to a leading position in the history of civilization. 
Their trade was particularly extensive with the East Indies, 
and it was here that there were developed the most perma- 
nent and productive of the Dutch colonies, although there 
were such also, at one time, in Asia, Africa, and America. 
The city of Amsterdam, in the province of Holland, was 
the heart of the vast Dutch trade, and, much as modern 
London, performed the banking business and controlled 
the money market of the entire world. 
The decay It was not a pleasant lot that awaited the southern prov- 

o ^ u inces, which had remained Catholic and had docilely sub- 

bpanisn ' ■' 

provinces. mitted to the Spanish rule. These were henceforth gov- 
erned from Spain as the Spanish Netherlands, and having 
lost their political spirit, soon lost, too, their material pros- 
perity, and were sapped of their energy and vitality. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

The Government OF Alva (1567-73). Motley, Kise of the Dutch Republic, 
Vol. II. Hausser, The Ke/orination. pp. 313-29. Putnam, IVilliam 
the Silent, beginning with Vol. I., Chap. XV. 

Philii''.s Ban and William's Atolocv. Motley, Vol. III., pp. 491-98. Put- 
nam, Vol. II., Chap. XXX. Harrison, Chap. XI. 



The Reformation in France 361 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE TO THE RELIGIOUS 
SETTLEMENTS OF 1598 (EDICT OF NANTES) AND 1629 

LITERATURE.— Johnson (as before), pp. 387-449. 
Fisher (as before), pp. 242-85. 

Kitchen, History of France, 3 vols. $7.80. Clarendon Press. 
Alzog, Church History. Vol. III., pp. 371-82. 

■Willert, Henry 0/ Navarre (Heroes of the Nations). $1.50. Putnam. 
Lodge, Richelieu (Foreign Statesmen). $0.75. Macmillan. 
Translations and Reprints. University of Pennsylvania. Vol. III., 
No. 3 (particularly Edict of Nantes). 

In the year 15 15 Francis I. ascended the French throne. 
Ever since 1494, when Charles VIII. had invaded Italy, the 
eyes of French monarchs had been riveted upon the penin- 
sula. They seemed not to be able to give up the dream of 
the south which filled their minds, and although driven 
from their conquests again and again, they always plucked 
up courage to return to the attack. Francis, who was 
young and filled with knightly ambition, had hardly ac- 
quired his crown, when he hurried across the Alps. At 
Marignano (15 15) he won a splendid victory over the 
Swiss mercenaries of the duke of Milan, and gained, as a 
result, the possession of Milan itself. But the success nat- 
urally excited the jealousy of Spain, and as soon as Charles 
V. had, at the Diet of Worms (1521), settled the affairs of 
Germany to his fancy, he undertook to drive Francis out 
of Milan. There followed the long duel between Francis The rivalry 
and Charles, the incidents of which have been narrated in andChad^ 
connection with the history of Germany. The student 
will remember that the most notable events of the wars of 
these two monarchs were the battle of Pavia, where Fran- 
cis was captured (1525), and the sack of Rome (1527), 



es. 



362 The Modern Period 

In addition to this matter oF the war with Spain over 

Italy, there are also to be considered, in connection with 

The begin- the reign of Francis, the beginnings of the Reformation in 

ningsofthe j.^j^j-^-g Francis himself was a child of the artistic spirit 
Ketorma- ' 

tion. of the Renaissance, and brought neither interest nor under- 

standing to bear upon the questions of religious reform. 
But it was different with his people, who, of course, could 
not remain uninfluenced by the greatest matter of the age. 

The beginnings of the Reformation in France are quite 
independent of Luther. In France, as elsewhere, the Re- 
vival of Learning had brought a desire for reform in state 
and Church, and at the opening of the new century cer- 
tain select spirits were beginning to formulate their pro- 
tests against exis.ting conditions. At the time when Lu- 
The circle of ther was stirring up Germany, a small circle of reformers, 
reformers. ^^ whom the venerable Lefebre is the most important, had 
already begun to preach the abolition of abuses, and had 
acquired a considerable influence. 

This influence the Catholic seminary of Paris, the Sor- 
bonne, which looked upon itself as the guardian of the 
orthodox faith, undertook to combat. Nevertheless, the 
Francis opposition of this pedantic institution counted for little 

inaugurates .^|.jj ^^^ j.jj was brought to its side. That occurred after 
the pohcy of & t> , , , , 

persecution, the battle of Pavia (1525), when Francis needed the help 

of the pope and the favor of his Catholic subjects to recover 
from the results of his defeat and captivity. The first ex- 
ecutions of heretics in France were ordered at this time. 
Henceforward Francis wavered in his attitude, but grew on 
the whole increasingly intolerant. 
Henry II. The successor of Francis was his son, Henry 11. (1547- 

continues \ pj ^^.^ ^ different man from his aff'able father, and 

the persecu- ^^' 

tions. his sombre character may be taken as an indication of the 

age of Catholic fanaticism which was approaching. On 

the day of his coronation Henry II. promised that "he 



The Reformation in France 363 

would exterminate from his kingdom all whom the Church 
denounced." If he did not succeed in this pious enter- 
prise it was because the spirit of resistance, animating the 
Protestants, was stronger even than the spirit of cruelty 
which filled the king. Edict after edict was published 
against the heretics, and there were many executions, but 
the only result was that the faith confirmed by martyrs* 
blood struck its roots into the hearts of a constantly in- 
creasing band of Protestant worshippers. 

The bigoted Henry died in 1559. Up to his death the 
Protestants of France had suffered their persecutions in 
patience ; they had not preached revolt nor sought politi- 
cal influence. But from the mere religious sect they had The 

been, they now advanced to the role of a political party. Protestants 
■' _ I 1 J begin to 

This change was due in a large measure to the political con- take a hand 

fusion that ensued on the unexpected death of Henry II. *" pontics. 

At the death of Henry, his son, Francis II., who was 

but sixteen years old, and physically and mentally feeble, 

succeeded to the throne. The real responsibilities of rule The situa- 

he was, of course, unable to assume, nor could his wife, who *'°" °" *^®, 
r f- • ,1- 1 accession of 

was Mary, queen of Scots, a very intelligent woman, under- Francis II. 

take them for him, because of her extreme youth. The 

power, therefore, fell into the hands of Mary's two uncles 

of the family of Guise, duke Francis, the soldier, and The Guises. 

Cardinal Lorraine, a churchman. 

There were those, however, who believed their own 
rights were infringed upon by this domination of the Guises 
at court and throughout the country. First to consider is 
the mother of Francis II., Catharine de' Medici, a member Catharine 
of the famous house that ruled at Florence. To an in- *^^ Medici, 
ordinate love of power she added some of the character- 
istic qualities of her nation — a rapid intelligence, diplomatic 
skill, and an entire unscrupulousness. The religious fanati- 
cism with which she has been sometimes credited has been 



364 The Modern Period 

much exaggerated, and if she plays a sinister role on several 
occasions in the subsequent religious troubles, it can be 
intelligently explained by sole reference to her political 
ambitions. But as intrigues and secrecy, and not open and 
frank enmity, were Catharine's political methods, the most 
earnest opposition to the Guises came not from her, but 

The Bour- from the Bourbons. The House of Bourbon was a col- 
°"^" lateral branch of the royal family, and its leading members 

at this time were, Anthony, king of Navarre, and Louis, 
prince of Conde. Anthony was graced with the royal title, 
not in his own right, but because he had married the heiress 
of the small kingdom of Navarre, on the border between 
France and Spain. Not unnaturally the Bourbons thought 
that they had a better claim to direct the policy of the 
kingdom than the Guises, and when they found themselves 
systematically excluded from power, they sought to bring 
about a league of all the opposition elements. Now among 
these elements were also the persecuted Huguenots,' and 
out of the common hatred of the Huguenots and the Bour- 
bons there grew, before long, an intimacy and an alliance. 
Anthony in a faithless, vacillating spirit, Conde more 
firmly, accepted the Reformed faith ; and, many of their 
aristocratic supporters following their example, it came to 
pass that Protestantism in France was gradually diluted 
and befouled with political intrigue. 

Of all these high-stationed Huguenots, the one man who 
has won the respect of friend and foe is Gaspard de 

Coligny. Coligny. He was related to the great family of Mont- 

morency, and bore the dignity of admiral of France. 
Though he was not without political ambition, he merits 
the high praise of having been a man to whom his faith was 



' The term Huguenots was probably first applied in derision to the 
French Protestants. Neither origin nor meaning has been satisfactorily 
explained. 



The Reformation in France 365 

a thing not to be bought and sold, and of having served it 
with single-mindedness to his death. 

Out of these relations of the factions around the throne 
grew the intrigues which led to the long religious wars in Civil war 
France. It is useless to try to put the blame for them upon *"®^* * ®- 
one or the other side. Given a weakened royal executive, 
the implacable religious temper which marks the parties of 
the sixteenth century, and a horde of powerful, turbulent, 
and greedy nobles, and civil war is a necessary consequence. 
The reader is now invited to note the leading circum- 
stances connected with the outbreak. 

The sickly Francis II. died in December, 1560. There- 
upon his widow Mary, finding her role in France exhausted, 
left for Scotland, and the Guises, who owed their position 
largely to her, presently discovered that their power had 
come to an end. The successor of Francis was his brother, 
Charles IX., a weak boy but ten years old, during whose Charles IX. 
minority his mother, Catharine de' Medici, undertook to r th~'''^e' 
act as regent. Thus Catharine at last realized her dream as regent, 
of power. But her new position was far from easy, as 
Guises and Bourbons alike w^atched her with jealousy. 
She resolved, therefore, with much moderation, upon a 
policy of balance between the hostile factions ; called rep- 
resentatives of both into her council ; and published an 
edict, securing to the Huguenots a limited toleration. It 
was the first effort of the kind that had been made in 
France to settle the religious difficulties. Its ending in 
failure proved again, if proof were necessary, that no com- 
promise could satisfy men who, like the Protestants and 
Catholics of the sixteenth century, were passionately set 
on realizing their own ideas without the abatement of a 
jot or tittle. While the Catholics were embittered by the 
extent of Catharine's concessions, the Protestants grum- 
bled at the remaining limitations, and among the more 



366 



The Modern Period 



The Mas- 
sacre of 
Vassy. 



Character 
of the war. 



The Peace 
of St. Ger- 
main. 



fanatical followers of the two parties, sometimes without 
provocation, there occurred sharp conflicts, frequently end- 
ing in terrible excesses. 

One of these conflicts, the Massacre of Vassy (1562), put 
an end to hesitation and led to war. The duke of Guise 
was passing through the country with a company of armed 
retainers, when he hapi^encd, at Vassy, upon a band of 
Huguenots, assembled in a barn for worship. Sharp words 
led to an encounter, and before the duke rode away, forty 
Protestants lay dead upon the ground and many more had 
been wounded. A fearful indignation seized their brothers 
in the faith, and when the duke of Guise was not imme- 
diately called to account for his breach of the law, Cond6 
and Coligny armed and took the field. 

Thus were inaugurated the religious wars of France, 
which were not brought to a conclusion until 1598, by the 
Edict of Nantes, and which in their consequences contin- 
ued to trouble the country well into the next century. For 
our purpose it is sufficient to look upon the period from 
1562 to 1598 as one war, though it is true that there were 
frequent suspensions of arms, supporting themselves upon 
sham truces and dishonest treaties. ^ The war, like all the 
religious wars of the century, was waged with inhuman bar- 
barity, and conflagrations, pillagings, massacres, and assas- 
sinations blot every stage of its progress. Protestants and 
Catholics became brutes alike, and vied with each other in 
their efforts to turn their country into a desert. 

When the Treaty of St. Germain (1570), granting the 
Protestants the largest toleration which they had yet en- 
joyed, temporarily closed the chapter of conflicts, many of 



' Eight wars have been distinguished as follows : First war, 1562-63 ; 
second war, 1567-68 ; third war, 1568-70 (ended by the peace of St. Ger- 
main) ; fourth war, 1572-73 ; fifth war. 1574-76 ; si.xth war, 1577 ; seventh 
war, 1579-80 ; eighth war (called the War of the three Henries) 1585-89, 
which continued in another form until the Edict of Nantes (1598). 



a moderate 
policy. 



The Reformation in France 367 

the original leaders had passed away. Anthony of Navarre 
had been killed in battle against his former friends, the Hu- 
guenots, whom he had treacherously deserted (1562) ; the 
duke of Guise had been assassinated (1563); and Conde 
had been unfairly slain in a charge of horse (1569). The 
head of the Huguenot party was now Anthony's young 
son, King Henry of Navarre, but the intellectual leader- 
ship fell, for the present, upon Coligny. 

Meanwhile, a moderate party had formed in France, Growth of 
which tried to make the Peace of St. Germain the begin- 
ning of a definite settlement. It was only too clear that 
the bloodshed which was draining the country of its 
strength, ruined both parties and brought profit to none but 
the enemies of France. The more temperate of both sides, 
Coligny prominent among them, began to see the folly of 
the struggle, and King Charles himself, who was now of 
age, inclined to their view. And yet such were the mutual 
suspicions and animosities, that the effort to remove all 
cause of quarrel precipitated the most horrible of all the in- 
cidents of the war, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 

After the Peace of St. Germain, Coligny had come up 
to Paris and had rapidly acquired a great influence with 
the king. The young monarch seemed to be disposed to 
l)ut an end for all time to internal dissension, and to turn 
the strength of the united country against the old enemy of 
France, Spain. For this purpose he arranged, as a prelim- The wed- 
inary step, a marriage between his sister Margaret and j^'g^rv of 
young Henry of Navarre. Joyfully responding to the in- Navarre and 
vitation of King Charles, the Huguenots poured in swarms 
into Paris to attend the wedding of their chief, which was 
celebrated on August 18, 1572. 

The wedding seemed to inaugurate an era of Protestant 
triumphs. Coligny's star, shedding the promise of tolera- 
tion, was rising steadily ; that of the Guises and their 



Margaret of 
Valois. 



368 The Modern Period 

ultra-Catholic supporters, standing for the principle of 

no-compromise, was as steadily setting. But suddenly the 

The alliance orthodox party, which, seeing ruin ahead of it, had fallen 

oiCaJ^a.nn& j^^^^ ^ desperate mood, ready for any undertaking, received 

Guises an unexpected addition. Catharine de' Medici, originally 

against hardly more attached to the Guises than to the Huguenots, 

Loligny. J '^ 

because primarily solicitous only about her own power, had 

lately lost all influence with the king. She knew well 

whither it had gone, and fixed the hatred of a revengeful 

and passionate nature upon Coligny. Burning to regain 

her power, she now put herself in communication with the 

Guises. On August 2 2d, as Coligny was entering his 

house, a ball, meant for his breast, struck him in the arm. 

The king, who hurried in alarm to the bedside of his 

councillor, was filled with indignation and swore to take a 

summary revenge upon the assassin and his accomplices. 

The terror of discovery and punishment, which now 

racked Catharine and the Guises, drove them to devise 

some means by which they might deflect the king's 

vengeance. On the spur of the moment, as it were, they 

The Massa- planned the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. This famous 

n ^ ?u I ■ massacre is, therefore, not to be considered, as was once 
Bartholo- ' ' ' 

mew, 1572, the custom, the carefully laid plot of the Catholic heads 
of Europe, but rather as the bloodthirsty improvisation of 
a desperate band. Catharine de' Medici and the Guises 
were its authors, and the fervidly Catholic population of 
Paris was the instrument of their will. How the king's 
consent was got, when all was ready, would be difficult to 
understand, if we did not know that he was weak and 
cowardly, and ready fer any measure when hoodwinked 
and terrorized. On St. Bartholomew's day (August 24), 
in the early hours of a Sunday morning, the tocsin was 
sounded from the churches of Paris. At the signal, the 
Catholic citizens slipped noiselessly from their houses, and 



The Reformation in France 369 

surrounded the residences which had been previously 
designated by a chalk-mark as the homes of Huguenots. 
Coligny was one of the first victims of the ensuing fury, 
Henry of Guise himself presiding at the butchery of his 
Huguenot rival. That night the streets flowed with blood, 
and for many days after, the provinces emulated the 
example of the capital. Henry of Navarre escaped death 
only by temporarily renouncing his faith. The victims of 
this fearful exhibition of fanaticism amounted approxi- 
mately to 2,000 in Paris, and 8,000 in the rest of France. 
We are helped in understanding the spirit of the time 
when we hear that the Catholic world, the pope and 
Philip of Spain at its head, made no effort to conceal its 
delight at this facile method of getting rid of adversaries. 

War with all its dreary incidents straightway flamed up 
again. In 1574 Charles IX. died, out of remorse, as the 
Huguenots were fain to believe, for his share in the great 
crime of St. Bartholomew. His brother, Henry III., sue- Henry III., 
ceeded him on the throne. A new element of interest was "^~ ^' 
introduced into the struggle only when the death of Henry's 
last brother, the duke of Alengon, and his own failure to 
have heirs, involved, with the religious question, the ques- 
tion of the succession. 

By the law of the realm the crown would have to pass, Prospect of 

upon Henry's death, to the nearest male relative, who was *. succes- 
i J ' > sion of 

Henry of Navarre, head of the collateral branch of Bour- Henry of 
bon. But Henry was a Huguenot, the enemy of the faith Navarre, 
of the vast majority of his future subjects. When there- 
fore his succession became probable, Henry of Guise and 
his followers formed the Holy League, which pledged 
itself to the interests of the Church, even against the king. 
As the Holy League satisfied the current fanaticism of the 
day, it became the rallying-point of Catholic France, and 
before long, Henry III. found at his side a man more 



370 



The Modern Period 



The war of 

the Three 
Henries. 



Henry IV. 
and the 
League. 



really king than himself — his former friend and present 
head of the League, Henry of Guise. In measure as he 
tried to live up to his royal duty of mediating between the 
contending factions and establishing peace, he found him- 
self deserted by the League, which would have no peace. 
France was, in consequence, soon divided into three 
camps, the ultras of the two religious parties, headed 
respectively by Henry of Guise and Henry of Navarre, 
and between them a moderate party headed by King 
Henry. 

There follows the phase of the struggle known as the 
war of the Three Henries (1585-89), which steeped the 
country in new confusion. In December, 1588, King 
Henry, who had tried all possible shifts to secure peace, 
even to the point of resigning the real power into the hands 
of the head of the League, indignantly resolved to put an 
end to his humiliation. He invited Henry of Guise to his 
cabinet, and there had him treacherously di.spatched by 
his guard. But the League now turned in horror from the 
murderer, and Paris and Catholic France declared for his 
deposition. In his despair the king fled to Henry of 
Navarre, and was just about to advance with his Huguenot 
subjects upon his capital, when a fanatical Dominican monk 
forced admission to his presence and killed him with a 
knife (August, 1589). Thus the House of Valois had come 
to an end. The question was now simply between Henry 
of Navarre, the rightful claimant to the crown, and the 
League, which would have none of him. 

The new Henry, Henry IV. , first king of the House of 
Bourbon, was a brave soldier, an intelligent ruler, and an 
affable gentleman. He was the idol of his followers, but 
his followers were only a small part of France. The at- 
tachment of the Catholic majority he knew could only be 
won slowly, and certainly not by force. Therefore, he 



The Reformation in France 371 

undertook with wisdom and patience to assure them of the 
loyalty of his intentions and win their recognition. If the 
League could only have found a plausible rival for the 
throne, Henry might have been annihilated ; but his claim 
was incontrovertible, and that was his strength. For the 
present no one thought of disarming. Henry won a num- 
ber of engagements, notably the battle of Ivry (1590), but 
the League, supported by Philip of Spain, could not be 
scattered. 

At last Henry, weary of the interminable struggle, re- Henry 
solved to take a decisive step. He abjured his faith and p ^^^^ 1.. 
begged to be readmitted into the Catholic Church (1593). ism. 
His calculation of the consequences of this measure proved 
to be correct, for he was almost immediately recognized 
throughout France, the League fell apart, and the war 
ceased. In February, 1594, Henry was solemnly crowned 
at Chartres, and in March he took possession of his capital 
amidst the unbounded rejoicings of those same Parisians 
who had clamored, on St. Bartholomew's day, for his head. 

Opinion has always been much divided on Henry's con- 
version. But there is no necessity for lingering over it 
long. It was purely a political measure, and a well-calcu- Henry's 
lated one, as the result shows, and though Henry professed justification. 
before the priest that the change was with him a matter of 
conscience, we know that the conversion sat lightly upon 
him. " Paris is well worth a mass," was the light-hearted 
comment he offered his friends to explain his defection. 

The first important business of the recognized king was 
to secure his country the benefit of a permanent religious 
pacification. The edict designed for this end was pub- The Edict 
lished at Nantes, April, 1598, and although it was not a of Nantes, 
decree of toleration such as satisfies our modern feeling, it 
was the best the time could afford. The Edict of Nantes 
gave the great nobles and the people in certain specified 



372 



The Modern Period 



Henry ends 
also the war 
with Spain, 
1598. 



Internal 
government 
of Henry 
and Sully. 



Henry plans 
to abase the 
House of 
Hapsburg. 



His death. 



places permission to establish a Protestant worshii); fur- 
thermore, it placed the Huguenots on a level with the 
Catholics before the law ; and finally, to reassure the party 
of the minority, and as a kind of guarantee of its promises, 
it made over to the Huguenots a number of fortified towns, 
of which La Rochelle was the most important. It was this 
last measure that later caused a renewal of the civil war, for 
it was a dangerous concession and made the Huguenots an 
independent armed power within the state. 

In the same year (1598) Henry closed the war with 
Spain, due to Spanish interference in behalf of the League. 
Though he was not unwilling to proceed against his med- 
dling neighbor with all vigor, he saw that his country was 
for the present in no condition for foreign conquest, and 
that he would better reserve its strength for the future. So 
he signed the Peace of Vervins (1598) on the basis of 
mutual restitutions. 

Now that France was at peace within and without, 
Henry seriously set about the task of building up again his 
ruined country. With the aid of his Protestant minister, 
the duke of Sully, he re-established the finances, and ad- 
vanced commerce and industry, and only when, after years 
of labor, he saw himself in possession of an ordered and 
flourishing commonwealth, did he again turn his attention 
to foreign affairs. The House of Hapsburg, governing 
through its two branches the dominions of Spain and 
Austria, was still to his mind the great enemy of France. 
That France and the House of Bourbon must grow at the 
expense of Spain and the House of Hapsburg became 
Henry's fixed resolution. In 1610, a local quarrel in Ger- 
many was just about to furnish him with a desired pretext 
to interfere against the Hapsburgs, when he was killed by the 
dagger of a half-insane Catholic fanatic, named Ravaillac. 
To this day King Henry is dear to the French people, and 



The Reformation in France 373 

his popularity has never been eclipsed by that of any of his 
successors. 

At Henry's death his son, Louis XIII. (1610-43), was Regency of 
but nine years old. A regency was therefore established ?J^j^-^-*^^' 
under Marie de' Medici, Henry's second wife. As Marie 
de' Medici was a weak woman, the puppet of favorites, the 
nobility and the Huguenots, whom Henry had vigorously 
kept within bounds, again raised their heads, and threatened 
to involve France in new civil wars. 

If France was saved from this calamity, it was due, and Richelieu. 
solely due, to Cardinal Richelieu. When this churchman 
became the leading minister in 1624, the queen-regent had 
already been supplanted by the king, but the change had 
not brought with it an improvement in the situation, owing 
to the fact that the king was indolent and common-place. 
Richelieu was confronted by a heavy task. Luckily the 
king fully appreciated the talents of his minister, and left 
him in control until his death, a period of eighteen years 
(1624-42). The extraordinary power enjoyed by Riche- 
lieu was, on the whole, put by him at the service of an en- 
lightened patriotism. He set himself two aims : the first, His two 
to strengthen the national monarchy, for which purpose he aims, 
must sap the political power of the nobility and the Hugue- 
nots; the second, to enlarge France territorially, in pur- 
suance of which end he must renew the wars with his 
country's old rival, Spain and the House of Hapsburg. 

The political power of the nobility Richelieu did not He curbs 
succeed in reducing without resistance. He planned to ^^^ nobles, 
bring the nobles under the law of the land, and when they 
protested by means of plots and insurrections, he exe- 
cuted a number of them and thus frightened the rest into 
obedience. 

More serious was the case of the Huguenots. The Edict 
of Nantes had, in addition to toleration, which was entirely 



374 



TJie Modern Period 



He curbs 
the Hugue- 
nots. 



La Rochelle 
(1628) and 
the pacifica- 
tion of 1629. 



Enmity to 
Hapsburg. 



France in 
the Thirty 
Years' War. 



just, given them political power — an ami)- and fortified 
towns. Since the death of Henry IV. they had frequently 
created disturbances, and certain of their measures indi- 
cated that they were planning to secede from France. That 
Richelieu was resolved not to suffer. He would leave them 
their freedom of worship — for Richelieu, although a church- 
man, w^as not a fanatic — but their pretension to independ- 
ence would have to be surrendered. His campaign against 
the Huguenots was carefully planned and culminated in the 
siege of La Rochelle (1628). La Rochelle was the great- 
est of the Protestant strongholds, and although the Ro- 
chellese, aided by the English, defended themselves witli 
heroism, they were obliged in the end to deliver themselves 
into the Cardinal's hands. Although victorious, Richelieu 
remained true to his principle of toleration, and signed a 
peace, first with the Rochellese, and later with the other 
Huguenots, in which he secured them all the privileges of 
the Edict of Nantes, barring the exceptional political 
power. 

The domestic troubles of France beins; thus smoothed 
over, and all classes having been brought under the law of 
the king, Richelieu could turn to the second part of his pro- 
gramme : the humiliation of the House of Hapsburg. A 
circumstance most opportune for his policy was that Ger- 
many was then convulsed by her Thirty Years' War. With 
the instinct of the statesman Richelieu felt that if he helped 
the Protestants of Germany against the Catholics backed 
by the House of Hapsburg (Emperor and Spain), he would 
sooner or later acquire some permanent advantages for 
France. His gradual interference finally secured his king 
the balance of power in the German war, and made France 
practical dictator of Europe when the Peace of Westphalia 
(1648) ended the struggle. Richelieu did not live to see 
this result (he died 1642), but the advantages which 



stands for 
absolutism. 



The Reformation in France 375 

France secured on that occasion may be written down to 
his statesmanUke conduct of the government. 

Richeh'eu is sometimes called the creator of the absolute Richelieu 
monarchy in France. That is an exaggeration, for the 
French kings had for centuries been working toward that 
end, but though not the creator, Richelieu certainly was 
the promoter of absolutism. Attention has already been 
called to his systematic abasement of the nobility. Further 
he refused to call, and thus permitted to fall into disuse, the 
States- General, the old feudal parliament of the realm. 
This body was not assembled from 1614 to 1789, and 
during that period the king's power was free from very 
effective check. Thus, although the benefits conferred by 
Richelieu upon France were great, it is a question whether 
he is not partially responsible for the ills which, in the 
eighteenth century, grew out of the unlimited royal pre- 
rogative. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. CoLiGN'Y AND THE Massacre OF St. BARTHOLOMEW. HaMSStT , Reformalion, 

pp. 366-75. Translations and Reprints, Univ. of Penn., Vol. III., No. 3 
(death of Coligny). KUch'in, History n/ France, Vol. II. Guizot, His- 
tory 0/ France, 8 vols. See Vol. III., Oh. XXXIII. Dumas, Mar- 
garet of Valois (novel). 

2, The Struggle of Richelif-I- against the Nobility. Wakeman, Europe, 

15Q8-1715, pp. 132-53. Macmillan. Lodge, Richelieu, Ch. VIII. 
Kitchin, History of France, Vol. III., Bk. IV. Perkins, France Under 
Richelieu and Mazarin, 2 vols. $3.99. Putnam. Bulwer, Richelieu 
(drama). 



376 



The Modcr)i Period 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR AND THE PEACE OF 
WESTPHALIA 



The relig- 
ious quarrels 
in Germany 
continue. 



Protestant- 
ism con- 
tinues for a 
time its 
triumphs. 



LITERATURE. — Wakeman, Europe, ijgS-iyrj, pp. 39-132. $1.75. Mac- 

millan. 
Gardiner, The Thirty Years' IVitr. (Epochs.) $1.00. Scribner. 
Gindely, The 'Thirty Years' lYar. 2 vols. $3.50. Putnam. 
Fletcher, Gustavus Aiiolphus. (Heroes.) $1.50. Putnam. 
Schiller, IValieiistein' s Lager; Die Piccolomini ; Wallenstein's Tod 

(dramas). 

The Peace of Augsburg (1555) ended the first religious 
war of Germany, by an attempt to accommodate the claims 
of the Catholics and the Protestants, but the attempt did 
not and could not succeed. The article, called the Eccle- 
siastical Reservation, which tried to protect the Catholic 
Church by forbidding all future secularizations of her terri- 
tory, had hardly been adopted when triumphant Protestant- 
ism infringed upon it at every point. The Catholics were 
thus furnished with a standing complaint against their 
rivals. And other difficulties were not wanting. Shortly 
after the Peace of Augsburg, Calvinism spread through the 
south and west of Germany, but as only Lutheranism was 
mentioned in the Peace of Augsburg, Calvinism had no legal 
basis. Thus Calvinism led a very precarious existence. 

It is a wonder that in spite of the incessant quarrels 
of the three parties, which filled all the Diets with their 
clamor, the peace was so long preserved. Probably jeal- 
ousy of one another and fear of the consequences of the 
sanguinary struggle which would follow, kept them from 
proceeding to extremes. Meanwhile, the long truce which 
outlasted the century, proved, at least for a time, favor- 
able to the Protestants. Lutherans and Calvinists alike 



The Thirty Years' War 377 

were little impeded in their propaganda, and soon the 
whole German north had become solidly Protestant, while 
in the south, Austria and Bavaria themselves, states which 
were looked upon as mainstays of the Catholic faith, were 
becoming dangerously infiltrated with the heretical poison. 
It seemed that the Lutherans and Calvinists would only 
have to cease their mutual bickerings and organize their 
action, and Catholicism would be driven out of Germany. 

But organize the Protestants would not, and soon the The Catho- 
Catholics, arousing themselves from the lethargy into which apJon 
they had fallen, gathered their forces at the Council of 
Trent, under the leadership of the Jesuits, and boldly 
undertook the reconquest of Germany. From the time of 
Emperor Rudolph II. (1576-1612), a new Catholic vigor 
became noticeable. The Jesuits made their way to the 
hearths of the ruling Catholic families, and from the 
courts of Vienna and Munich, as operating centres, gradu- 
ally widened the sphere of their influence. They did their 
work with firm zeal and noiseless caution. They served 
their princely masters as father-confessors or as ministers 
of state, and in either case controlled their policy ; they 
founded schools and colleges ; they sent their missionaries 
into all hesitating communities, and soon amazed the Prot- 
estants with the news of the reconversion to Mother 
Church of princes and whole territories. 

By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the ten- The Prot- 

sion had so increased that the more assertive Protestants ^f t?'"^ , 

Union and 

established a Union for the purpose of mutual protection the Catholic 
(1608). This step was answered the next year (1609), ^^^S"®* 
by a similar organization on the part of the Catholics, 
which they called the Holy League. Henceforth, Ger- 
many was divided into the two hostile camps of League 
and Union, either ready to take the field against the other 
as soon as the occasion served. Under the circumstances 



37^ The Modern Period 

the opinion was becoming' general that the terrible sus- 
pense about the endless religious questions ought finally to 
be terminated, one way or another. From the first, how- 
ever, this difference between the two religious camps ought 
to be noted, that, while the Catholics were firmly organ- 
ized under a capable man, Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, 
the Protestants, owing to their old divisions, gave their 
Calvinistic president, Frederick, the count palatine of the 
Rhine, only a wavering support. 

The occasion that the two parties were looking for, in 
The affairs order to begin the war, was at length furnished by 
o Bo emia. jiQi-^gj-^-^j^. The kingdom of Bohemia, a state inhabited by 
Slavs (Czechs) and Germans, was a i)art of the possessions 
of the House of Hapsburg. Lutheranism had got a foot- 
hold in Bohemia, and after a period of persecution, the 
Emperor Rudolph had issued (1609) a royal charter in 
which he agreed to tolerate it. But both Rudolph and his 
successor, Matthias (1612-19), bore with the Protestants 
in Bohemia only out of necessity. They continued to vex 
them even after the decree of toleration, with the result 
The revolu- that the Protestants lost patience, and in 1618 rose in 
tion ot 10 18. j.gyQij They invaded the castle at Prague, the residence 
of the emperor's lieutenants, and laying violent hands 
upon the persons of their oppressors, tossed them roughly 
out of the window. Then they set up a government of 
their own. Thus the challenge that the Protestants and 
Catholics had been awaiting for years was given ; the 
Thirty Years' War had begun. 
The four It is customary to divide the Thirty Years' War, for con- 

th^Th^rtv venience sake, into four periods — the Bohemian-Palatine 
Years' Period (1618-23), the Danish Period (1625-29), the 

*^* Swedish Period (1630-35), and the French-Swedish Period 

(1635-48). Perhaps the most striking feature of the war 
is, that, beginning with a local struggle in Bohemia, it 



The Thirty Years' War 379 

should gradually have spread until it included all Europe. 
The above divisions indicate the widening circles. From 
Bohemia it first extended over southern Germany (Bohemi- 
an-Palatine Period) ; then slowly, northern Germany and 
its nearest Protestant neighbor caught fire (Danish Period); 
and, finally, country upon country was moved to take part, 
until the war was no longer a German struggle at all, but 
assumed, first, the aspect of a general conflict between Prot- 
estantism and Catholicism, and secondly, the character of 
a struggle between the two great dynasties, Hapsburg and 
Bourbon, for the supremacy in Europe. 

The Bohemian-Palatine Period. — The insurgents at 
Prague had hardly set up their government, when they 
appealed to the Protestant Union for help and prepared 
themselves for war. In the midst of the first campaign the 
incapable Emperor Matthias died (16 19), and the Haps- 
burg dominions passed to a man of altogether different 
mould, Ferdinand 11. 

Ferdinand II. (1619-37), who had been brought up by Ferdinand 
the Jesuits, united with a narrow Catholic enthusiasm many ^'•» 1619-37. 
incontestable Christian virtues. He was acknowledged on 
his accession in most of his dominions, and the electors of 
the empire, although three of the seven electors were Prot- 
estant, so far accepted the time-honored ascendancy of the 
House of Hapsburg as to choose him emperor. Ferdinand 
felt that having gained so much, he must now undertake the 
recovery of Bohemia. He appealed to the Catholic League 
for help, and Maximilian of Bavaria, its president, readily 
granted it. 

Maximilian and Ferdinand had been brought up together Maximilian 
under the same Jesuit influences, and Maximilian, who was oavana. 
an exceedingly capable man, was always glad to do some- 
thing for the Catholic cause. Moreover, the newest devel- 
opments in Bohemia had greatly stimulated this eagerness. 



380 



The Modern Period 



The battle 
of the White 
Hill, 1620. 



The Pala- 
tinate occu- 
pied by the 
Catholics. 



The situa- 
tion begins 
to interest 
the rest of 
Europe. 



In order to strengthen their hand, the Bohemian Protes- 
tants had just elected (1619) Frederick, count palatine of 
the Rhine and head of the Protestant Union, king of Bo- 
hemia; and Maximilian, as head of the League, felt that he 
could not let his adversary assume this honor unchallenged. 

In the year 1620 there followed the campaign which de- 
cided the fate of Bohemia. Frederick, the new king, 
proved utterly inadequate to his task. At the battle of 
the White Hill, just outside of Prague, the united forces of 
the emperor and the League scattered the army of the rebels 
to the four winds, and drove Frederick himself into exile. 
Ferdinand and his Jesuits immediately took possession of 
Bohemia and forced it back to Catholicism. 

The war would now have been over if the Catholics had 
been contented with their first success. But urged on by 
his advisers, the emperor allowed himself to be hurried into 
a new and larger enterprise. He placed the defeated count 
palatine Frederick under the ban of the Empire, and com- 
missioned Maximilian to occupy his territories, which 
straggled in loose array along southern Germany from the 
Rhine to Bohemia, and were known under the name of the 
Palatinate. Even the Lutherans, hitherto indifferent, be- 
came excited at this outrage, and a number of campaigns 
were necessary before Maximilian's troops could execute 
the imperial order. 

And now a new danger arose. Protestants the world 
over had expressed their grief at the defeat of their co- 
religionists in Germany, while the European Catholics cel- 
ebrated the emperor's victory as their own. Religion, it 
must be remembered, was still the dominant interest of the 
day. Thus Frederick's misfortunes gradually won him the 
sympathies of foreign Protestant monarchs, and especially of 
James I. of England, whose daughter Elizabeth, Frederick 
had married. But all the larger states which sympathized 



The Thirty Years' War 381 

with Frederick happened to have their hands full at the 
time, and thus it happened that the only power which could, 
for the present, be persuaded to interfere actively in his be- 
half, was Denmark. 

The Danish War (1625-29). — In the year 1625, Chris- 
tian IV., king of Denmark, gave ear to the supplication of 
the more radical wing of the German Protestants and placed 
himself at their head. The theatre of war was thus imme- 
diately transferred from the south to the north. 

Again, the Catholics won a complete victory, for against 
the Protestant forces they put into the field two armies, 
superior in every way to their Protestant rivals. The first Protestant 
of these was equipped by the Catholic League and com- |-j, fQj-ces 
manded by Tilly, the victor of the White Hill, while the compared. 
second had only lately been got together by the personal 
activity of a Bohemian nobleman, one Wallenstein, who 
placed it at the service of the emperor. 

This Wallenstein was destined to play a great role on the 
imperial side. The emperor, owing to the exhaustion of 
his treasury, had hitherto waged the war primarily with the Wallenstein 
troops of the League. Wallenstein now proposed the bold imperial 
plan of raising an army for him which should cost him army, 
nothing. His notion was convincingly simple : the army 
was to live by a system of forced contributions. Wallen- 
stein's personal magnetism, his promise of large pay and 
plunder, soon furnished him with a numerous army of ad- 
venturers, who cared neither for Catholicism nor Protest- 
antism, and blindly served their chief. 

In the year 1626, Tilly and Wallenstein completely Victories of 
scattered their Protestant adversaries, and then proceeded andTilfv^'" 
to invade Denmark. Christian defended himself for a time 
as best he could, but in the end had to give way. In the 
year 1629 he was glad to sign the Peace of Liibeck, upon 
terms which secured him his territory in return for the 



382 The Modern Period 

promise that he would not again interfere in the affairs of 
Germany. 
Wallen- Even before the Peace of Liibeck was signed Wallen- 

^edal^ 'laiis ^^^'^^ ^^^^ covered the whole Protestant north of Germany 
with his troops. His remarkable mind was nursing vast 
and intricate designs, the gist of them being to destroy the 
local power of the princes, and to build up a strong united 
Germany under the emperor, with himself as the power 
behind the throne. His successes were unchecked till he 

First defeat arrived at Stralsund, a port of the Baltic Sea. This city, 
at Stral- 
sund 1620 although he vowed in his wrath he would have it, " even 

though it were fastened to heaven by chains of iron," he 
could not take, and was forced to retire. Next to herself, 
Stralsund owed her deliverance to the supplies, secretly 
contributed by a voluntary ally, Gustavus Adolphus, king 
of Sweden. This monarch had been for some time plan- 
ning to interfere in the German war, but he was detained 
by a war which he had begun with Poland. While he was 
bringing this to a close and preparing to come in person to 
Germany, a number of events occurred there that greatly 
facilitated his projects. 
The Edict In spite of the check at Stralsund, the year 1629 marks 

the climax of the Catholic successes. The Peace of Lu- 



tion, 1629. 



beck had removed Denmark from the struggle ; in the 
length and breadth of Germany there was no army to resist 
the emperor ; and Wallenstein and Tilly held both the 
north and the south. This triumphant situation persuaded 
Ferdinand II. to strike a decisive blow at the Protestant 
religion. He published (1629) the Edict of Restitution, 
by which the Protestants were ordered to give up all Church 
territories which had been taken into possession since the 
Peace of Augsburg (1555). As this affected two arch- 
bishoprics, nine bishoprics, and many monasteries, alto- 
gether a considerable fraction of German land, it will be 



The Thirty Years' War 383 

understood why all Protestants, even the sluggish Lutherans, 
were seized with consternation. For a moment differences 
were forgotten, and all stood firm, ready to renew an op- 
position which seemed to have been broken by the tide of 
Catholic victory. 

Luckily for the Protestants, the emperor himself by his Dismissal 
very next step frustrated his own policy. Wallenstein's stg^ji^ ^"" 
savage warfare, above all, his imperial policy, which in- 
volved the ruin of the princes. Catholic and Protestant 
alike, had won him their united hatred. At the Diet of 
Ratisbon (Regensburg, 1630), they fiercely demanded his 
dismissal. The emperor hesitated for a moment, and then 
gave way. Wallenstein was forced to take leave of his ar- 
my at the very moment when there gathered against Ferdi- 
nand the worst storm which had yet threatened. 

Swedish Period {i6jo-js). — Wallenstein's retirement Reasons for 

occurred almost at the same time as the landing in Germany the coming 

° -'of Gustavus 

of an army of Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus. What Adolphus. 

were the motives of this Swedish king in thus intervening 
in German affairs? They can still be made out with per- 
fect ease. First, he was certainly moved by self-interest. 
Sweden was a Baltic power and had been striving for some 
time to make of the Baltic a " Swedish lake." The wars 
which Gustavus Adolphus had directed against Russia and 
Poland were waged in obedience to this ambitious policy, 
and had practically secured Sweden the whole Baltic coast 
as far as Prussia. The attempt of Wallenstein to establish 
the emperor along the northern coast of Germany might 
certainly be conceived as a danger by a Swedish patriot, 
and Gustavus, frightened at Wallenstein's successes, gradu- 
ally became convinced that the safety of his state depended 
upon the defeat of the House of Hapsburg. Secondly, he 
was an ardent Protestant, ready to risk a blow for a cause 
he loved. It is unnecessary to try to measure mathemati- 



384 



The Modern Period 



Attitude of 
the German 
princes. 



Alliance 

with 

France. 



The sack of 
Magdeburg, 
1631. 



cally, as some historians have attempted to do, which of 
these two motives was dominant in his mind. Capable 
men, such asGustavus, who combine ideal aspirations with 
a sense of the necessities and realities of power, always fol- 
low a line of action which delicately strikes the balance 
between a multitude of considerations. In any case, Gus- 
tavus came as a rescuing angel to the aid of a dying cause, 
and immediately gave to events that larger proportion, 
which lifted the brutal struggle of the religious parties 
momentarily to a higher plane. 

Gustavus attempted, upon landing in Germany, to se- 
cure the alliance of the Protestant princes. But this was 
no easy matter. They were glad enough to have his help, 
but they had legitimate scruples about handing over Ger- 
many to a foreigner. While Gustavus was still negotiating 
with them aid came to him from another quarter. Rich- 
elieu had now mastered the Huguenots (fall of La Rochelle, 
1628), and was determined, like Gustavus, to proceed 
vigorously against the Hapsburgs. Under the circum- 
stances it was not unnatural than France and Sweden 
should form an alliance, which was duly concluded in 
1 63 1, and which henceforth determined the course of the 
war. For the present, however, the part of France was 
limited to a contribution of money to the Swedish ireasury. 

All this time Gustavus was in the north, waiting for the 
Protestant princes to join him. While they were still hes- 
itating, the army of the League, under Tilly, took, plun- 
dered, and utterly destroyed the great Protestant city of 
Magdeburg (1631). The horror of the terrible massacre 
(20,000 inhabitants were butchered by the soldiery) add- 
ed to the irritation caused by continued imperial aggres- 
sions, threw the Protestants, and, above all, the greatest 
prince of the north, the elector of Saxony, upon the 
Swedish side. Having secured this important ally, Gus- 



The Thirty Years' IV ar 385 

tavus could now march south against Tilly without fear of 

an insurrection at his back. At Breitenfeld, near Leipsic, The battle 

a great battle took place, in which Swedish generalship f i^ 1611"' 

and discipline astonished the world by utterly defeating 

the veteran army of Tilly (September, 1631). 

The victory of Breitenfeld laid all Germany at the feet 
of Giistavus. Never was there a more complete dramatic 
change. The Catholics, who, a year before, had held the 
reins in their hands, were now in exactly the same help- 
less position in which the Protestants had then found them- Gustavus 
selves. Gustavus, received everywhere with jubilation by j^ r 
the Protestants, whom he had delivered, marched, without Protestant 
opposition, straight across Germany to the Rhine. ermany. 

In the spring, Gustavus again took the field, aiming 
straight for Munich and Vienna, the capitals respectively 
of Maximilian and Ferdinand. Munich fell into his hands, 
and Vienna seemed likewise doomed, when Ferdinand in 
his cruel predicament turned once more to Wallenstein Wallenstein 
for help. That general, since his dismissal, had been the'regrue 
sulking on his estates. When Ferdinand's ambassador 
now besought him for aid he affected indifference, but at 
length he allowed himself to be persuaded to collect an 
army, upon conditions that practically made his command 
absolute. Then he floated his standards to the wind, and 
immediately the old veterans flocked around their beloved 
leader. 

In the summer of 1632 Wallenstein and Gustavus, the 
two greatest generals of their day, took the field against 
each other. " After long futile manoeuvring around Nurem- 
berg, in which Wallenstein won some slight advantages, 
the two armies met for a decisive encounter at Lutzen, not The battle 
far from Leipsic (November, 1632). The armies of that ^^^^^u^' 
day were not large ; 20,000 Swedes confronted about as 1632. 
many Imperialists. After the Swedish army had knelt in 



386 



The Modern Period 



Swedes de- 
feated at 
Nordlingen, 
1634. 



Murder of 

Wallen- 

stein. 

Richelieu 
enters the 
war. 



Changed 
character of 
the war. 



prayer and the trumpeters had sounded the grand old 
hymn of Luther, "A Mighty Fortress is our God," Gus- 
tavus ordered the attack. The combat was long and 
fierce, but the Swedes won the day ; they won, but at a 
terrible cost. In one of the charges of horse, the impet- 
uosity of Gustavus had carried him too far into the ranks 
of the enemy, and he was surrounded and slain. 

For a few more years the Swedes, under various lieu- 
tenants trained in the school of Gustavus, and under the 
political direction of the Chancellor Oxenstiern, who rep- 
resented Gustavus's infant daughter. Queen Christine, 
tried to hold what had been won for them. But in 1634 
they were defeated by the Imperialists, under the younger 
Ferdinand, the emperor's son, at Nordlingen, and had to 
give up southern Germany. Wallcnstein was, at that 
time, no longer at the head of the imperial forces. Hav- 
ing fallen under the suspicion of treachery he was mur- 
dered by a band of conspirators (February, 1634). 

At this juncture France entered the war. We have seen 
that Richelieu had made with Gustavus, on Gustavus's 
landing in Germany, a treaty limited to money-support. 
But the battle of Nordlingen establishing the fact that 
Sweden without its king was no longer a match for the 
emperor, Richelieu now resolved on more vigorous meas- 
ures against the House of Hapsburg. In 1635 he declared 
war against both branches. 

French-Swedish Period {^1635-48'). — From now on the 
war was the conflict of the House of Bourbon, allied in 
Germany with Sweden and in the Netherlands with the 
Dutch, against the Spanish and the Austrian branches of 
the House of Hapsburg ; and the theatre of the struggle 
of these two dynasties for the leadership in Europe was the 
territory where their interests clashed — the Netherlands, 
Italy, and, of course, Germany. The Protestant princes, 



The Thirty Years War 387 

mere pygmies in this universal contest, sank more and more 

out of sight. If the war continued, it was not because of 

any interests of theirs, but because Richelieu was set upon 

reducing the Hapsburgs in the world, and would not retire 

until France and Sweden had gained a firm foothold in 

Germany. 

The campaigns of this last period of the war consist, 

therefore, of a patient forward thrust across the Rhine into 

southern Germany, on the part of France, and a steady The attack 

movement southward from the Baltic, on the part of °^ f^I^"*^? 

„, ■ 1 T , 1 . and Sweden. 

Sweden. The emperor, aided by subsidies from Spain, but 

rarely by her troops (for Spain was engaged to the extent 

of her capacity in the Netherlands and Italy), made what 

resistance he could, while the Germans looked on, for the 

most part indifferent, weary to death of the long struggle, 

and unable to see any further meaning in it. Under these 

conditions, and especially after the great generals, Turenne 

and the prince of Conde were put at the head of the French 

troops, the emperor was steadily pushed back. Year in, 

year out, Germany was harried by fire and sword. The 

cities fell into decay, and the country was deserted by the 

peasants. When the product of labor was sure to become 

the booty of marauders, nobody cared to work. So the 

people fell into idleness, were butchered, or died of hunger The long 

or of pestilence. The only profession which afforded se- s^go^y of 

Germany. 
curity and a livelihood was that of the soldier, and soldier 

meant robber and murderer. Armies, therefore, became 

mere bands, organized for pillage, and marched up and 

down the country, followed by immense hordes of starved 

camp followers, women and children, who hoped, in this 

way, to get a sustenance which they could not find at 

home. Finally, defeat upon defeat brought the emperor 

to terms. Ferdinand II., who had begun the war, having 

died in the meantime, it was his son and successor, Ferdi- 



388 The Modern Period 



The end of nand III. (1637-57), who put an end to the general misery 
the war, y^^ signing, after wearisome negotiations, a peace with all 

his enemies, called the Peace of Westphalia (1648). 

The Peace of Westphalia is, from the variety of matter 
which it treats, one of the most important documents in 
history. First, it determined what territorial corapensa- 
The main tion France and Sweden were to have in Germany for 
the Peace of ^'"'^^'^ victories over the emperor ; secondly, it laid a new 
Westphalia, basis for the peace between Protestantism and Catholicism ; 
and, thirdly, it authorized an important political readjust- 
ment of Germany. All these rubrics will be considered 
separately. 

As to the first rubric, Sweden received the western half 
of Pomerania, and the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden. 
By these possessions she was put in control of the mouths 
Cessions to of the German rivers, the Oder, Elbe, and Weser. France 
Sweden and ^^,^ confirmed in the possession of the bishoprics of Metz, 
Toul, and Verdun, which she had acquired under Henry 
II. (1552), and received, in addition, Alsace, with the 
exception of the city of Strasburg and a few inconsidera- 
ble districts. 
The relig- Under the second rubric, we note that the Peace of 

ment^^*^*^'^" Augsburg was confirmed, and that the toleration there 
granted to the Lutherans was extended to the Calvinists. 
In regard to the bishoprics, which the Edict of Restitution 
had declared to be Catholic, the victory remained substan- 
tially with the Protestants, for January i, 1624, was desig- 
nated as a test day, it being agreed that whatever land had 
been Protestant at that time should remain Protestant, and 
vice versa. 
Disruption Under the third rubric it is necessary to note a variety 

of Germany. ^^ political and territorial changes within Germany. First, 
the princes were given a number of new sovereign rights ; 
among others, the right of forming alliances with each 



The Thirty Years' War 389 

other, and with foreign powers. Therewith the decentral- 
ization of Germany was completed, and the single states 
legally declared as good as independent. Furthermore, the 
elector of Brandenburg received additions of territory, 
which made him not only the greatest Protestant prince, 
but the greatest prince altogether in Germany, after the 
emperor. Brandenburg, thus enlarged, was destined to 
grow into a kingdom (Prussia), and become in time the Growth of 
rival and conqueror of Austria, and the recreator of the ^^^"o^"" 
German political unity of which the Peace of Westphalia 
made an end. As a last curious item, it may be added 
that Switzerland and the Dutch Netherlands (seven United Switzerland 
Provinces), which had once been members of the Empire, jljl'ljrgf. 
but had long ago won a practical independence, were for- lands, 
mally declared free from any obligations to that body. 

The Peace of Westphalia had also a European signifi- The Peace 
cance. It dealt with so many international affairs, that it Jja closes *" 
may be said to have been, in a measure, a constitution of the era of 
Europe, and practically, it was the basis of European public ^a^*°"^ 
law till the French Revolution. We may also take it to 
mark a turning-point in the destinies of civilization. From 
the time of Luther the chief interest of Europe had been 
the question of religion. Europe was divided into two 
camps, Catholicism and Protestantism, which opposed each 
other with all their might. In the Peace of Westphaha, 
the two parties recorded what they had gradually been 
learning — which was, that such a fight was futile, and that 
they would better learn to put up with each other. Almost 
imperceptibly men's minds had grown more tolerant, even 
if the laws were not always so, and this is, when all is 
said, the more satisfactory progress. The best proof of 
the improved state of the European mind toward the mid- 
dle of the seventeenth century, is offered by the practical 
application of this very peace instrument. The toleration 



390 



The Modern Period 



The princi- 
ple of toler- 
ation. 



there granted was merely of the old kind — the toleration of 
the princes, but not of the individuals, expressed by the 
famous CHjus regie, ejus religio (he who rules the coimtry 
maysettle its religion) — yet, persecution of individuals was 
henceforth the exception, and not the rule. It would be 
an exaggeration to say that the principle of toleration had 
now been conquered for humanity, or that the squabbles 
for religion's sake ceased in the world, but it may be as- 
serted, without fear of contradiction, that toleration had 
Avon with the Peace of Westphalia a definite recognition 
among the upper and the cultured classes. During the next 
one hundred and fifty years, the principle filtered gradu- 
ally, through the literary labor of many noble thinkers, to 
the lowest strata of society, and became, in the era of the 
French Revolution, a possession of all mankind. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

Wallenstein's Policy of German Unification and the Causes of the 

Failure of that folicv. Gindely, Thirty Years' War, Vol. II., Chaps. 

Land IV. Gardiner, Thirty Years' War, pp. 98-110 ; 117-30; 151-81. 

Hausser, Reformation, pp. 428-44 ; 501-14. 
The Desolation Wroi'cht in Germany by the War. Gardiner, pp. 217- 

21. Gindely, Vol. II., Chap. XL 



SECTION II 

THE ERA OF ABSOLUTISM AND THE DYNASTIC 
WARS; FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA TO 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1648-1789) 

The reader is again warned that any staking off of a sec- 
tion of Modern History is entirely arbitrary, and is solely 
justified on the score of convenience and in the interest of 
analysis. Now the above so-called Second Section has, 
like the First, an essential unity, or, to use a musical ex- 
pression, a leading motive. This motive is found in the 
circumstance that during the century and a half between 
the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the French Revolu- 
tion (1789), Europe was dominated by the principle of 
government known as absolutism, and was constantly 
shaken by the wars of the various absolute dynasties waged 
for the selfish purposes of territorial aggrandizement. But 
this once understood, the reader must guard himself against 
imagining that there was no absolutism and self-aggrandize- 
ment both before and after our Section II. Of course there 
was, and all that is meant by this introductory word is that 
never at any other time did these two closely wedded ten- 
dencies stand so prominently in the foreground of public 
affairs. 



391 



392 The Modern Period 



CHAPTER XXV 

ENGLAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. THE 
STUARTS, THE PURITAN REVOLUTION, AND THE 
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL MON- 
ARCHY UNDER WILLIAM HI. 

LITERATURE.— Gardiner, The Puritan Revolution. (Epochs.) $i.oo. 
Scribner. 
Ga.Tdir\er, History of England {iboz-A^)- lo vols. $20. cx). Longmans. 
Gardiner, History of the Civil IVar (1642-49). 4 vols. Longmans. 

(Out of print.) 
Gardiner, History of the Cotnvtonivcalth and the Protectorate (i64<)-6o). 

2 vols. $14.00. Longmans. 
Carlyle, CromwelVs Letters and Speeches. 2 vols. 

Of Memoirs on the Restoration see Pepys. Inexpensive edition 
published by Cassell. $0.60. 
Gardiner, Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution {xfyiZ-^). 

$2.60. Clarendon Press. 
Gee and Hardy, Documents Illustrative of English Church History. 
$2.60. Macmillan. 

Reign of James I. {i6oj-2^') 

Gardiner, Student's History of England, pp. 481-503. 
Green, Slwrt History of the English People, pp. 474-96. 

James, the Elizabeth was succeeded upon her death by the next 

arch 10° " ^^^''^ *^° ^^ crown, James I., the son of Mary Stuart. 
Great Brit- James, who was already king of Scotland, united in his 
person for the first time the sovereignty over the kingdoms 
constituting Great Britain. But it must be understood 
that the union of England and Scotland which the acces- 
sion of James established, was, for the present, merely a 
personal union ; that is, the accession of James gave the 
two countries a common sovereign, but not, as yet, com- 
mon laws and institutions. 
Character of It was unfortunate that at a time when the character of 
•' ■ the sovereign greatly influenced the government, such a 

man as James should have been on the throne. His figure 



England in the Seventeenth Century 393 

was almost ludicrously disjointed, and his character was 
devoid of force and fibre. Under the circumstances his 
really considerable information was not likely to help him 
much, whereas his exaggerated idea of his office was sure to 
do him harm. Concerning this office, he obstinately be- 
lieved that it was of divine origin, and that its preroga- 
tives were so extensive as to render him practically abso- 
lute. 

The accession of James occurred at a favorable moment. The favor- 
The defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) had established ^q^ o°"he' 
the authority of England without. Within, the Catholics kingdom, 
were a waning party, and the Anglican Church, which was 
alone recognized by the law (Acts of Supremacy and Uni- 
formity, 1559), had, under Elizabeth, acquired solidarity 
and respect. The Puritan party within the Church, which 
inclined toward Calvinistic views, was by no means violent, 
and could be conciliated by a few concessions taking ac- 
count of their aversion to the surplice, to genuflections, 
and similar externals of the service. The question was 
whether James would show the breadth of mind which the 
solution of this question demanded. 

Shortly after his accession, in 1604, James met the Puri- James es- 
tans in a conference at Hampton Court. He there bitterly p ".^^^ *"^ 
denounced them as the enemies of episcopacy, and com- 
pletely identified himself with that system of Church gov- 
ernment. Now the king's charges against the Puritans 
were far from true. Once more let us remember that the 
Puritans at this time were not revolutionary ; that they 
accepted the Church of England and the principle of epis- 
copacy; and that they demanded only a few liberties, 
chiefly respecting ceremonial non-essentials. It was, there- 
fore, extremely unwise on the part of the king to dismiss 
the Puritan conference grufily, and to order, shortly after, 
the removal from their livings of those of the clergy who 



394 



The Modern Period 



The gun- 
powder plot. 



The rights 
of king and 
Parliament. 



refused to conform to every minute prescription of the 
Anglican service. 

The Catholic party, too, had expected an alleviation of 
its position through James's accession. When it found that 
nothing was done to make its lot lighter, certain desperate 
men resolved upon vengeance. They deliberately planned 
to destroy the whole English government, king. Lords, and 
Commons, by one gigantic stroke. They heaped gunpow- 
der in barrels in the Parliament cellars, and set November 
5, 1605 — the day of the opening in state of a new session — 
for the monstrous crime. Suspicion, however, had been 
awakened through a letter of warning, sent by a conspira- 
tor to a friend who was a member of the House of Lords ; 
and luckily, on the very eve of the planned disaster, Guy 
Fawkes, the hardiest of the conspirators, was discovered 
keeping watch among the explosives. He and his help- 
mates were arrested and executed, and the English people 
were once more confirmed in that intense hatred and dis- 
trust of the Catholic faith which long remained the first 
article of their religious and political programme. 

The troubles with the Puritans and Catholics were not 
the only difficulties which James's policy raised about him. 
He managed also to quarrel with his Parliament. In the 
England of that time the rights of king and of Parliament 
were not accurately determined, and the king's prerogative 
was necessarily vague. It must be remembered that there 
was no written constitution, and tliat the legal basis for 
every political action was found in a mass of frequently 
conflicting customs and statutes. Under these circumstances 
a monarch could do a great many things which a Parlia- 
ment might, on the ground of some ancient ordinance, dis- 
pute, but which a Parliament, if well-disposed in general 
toward the monarch, and if convinced that the particular 
act was wise, would not dispute. 



England in the Seventeenth Century 395 

Now James's finances fell into disorder — a sore matter The ques- 
with every government. Probably a little clever leading ro'iltr*olled° 
of Parliament would have brought that body around to a the nation's 
complete and wholesome reform of the finances, but James P"*"^^* 
preferred, in his high-handed and stupid way, to order the 
levy of a number of questionable taxes on his own author- 
ity, and to trust to luck that Parliament would, after a little 
haggling, yield him the point. In this he was mistaken. 
Parliament after Parliament allowed itself to be dissolved 
rather than take his dictation in this matter. And what was 
the result? What originally had been merely a practical 
business question, was soon raised to a matter of principle, 
and the irritated Commons began to ask themselves if the 
king had a right to raise any kind of tax at all without their 
consent. In this way the question, who controlled the 
nation's purse, was definitely placed before the people, and 
an answer would have to be found sooner or later, whether 
by peaceful adjustment or by war. 

To his unpopularity James's foreign policy contributed. James's 
His one notion was peace. That was not bad in itself, but pg^ce ° 
James contrived an impractical course. He tried to asso- 
ciate himself with Spain, arguing that an understanding 
between the leading Protestant and the leading Catholic 
power would secure peace to the world. Unfortunately the 
Spaniards only hoodwinked him, and the English became 
thoroughly disaffected by this policy of knuckling down to 
their ancient foe. Nevertheless the king persisted in his 
course. In 16 18 he had Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the 
popular Elizabethan heroes, executed for venturing to attack 
a Spanish village in South America. And when, in that 
same year, the Thirty Years' War broke out in Germany, 
instead of assisting his son-in-law, Frederick of the Palati- 
nate, who was elected king of Bohemia, he remained an 
impotent spectator, in the hope that Spain would somehow 



396 



The Modern Period 



English 
coloniza- 
tion. 



Ireland. 



America. 



India. 



kindly interfere in his relative's behalf. In the end his son- 
in-law was driven from Germany. But in spite of the fact 
that everybody now looked upon a conflict as inevitable, 
James continued his futile negotiations, and did not pre- 
pare for war against Spain until within a few months of his 
death, which occurred in 1625. 

It is a relief to turn from this chapter of mistaken efforts 
to the more productive field of James's colonial enterprises. 
In 1610 occurred the first settlement of Ulster, the North- 
eastern province of Ireland, with English and Scotch colo- 
nists. Before James's time Ireland had given to monarch 
after monarch nothing but trouble, and James hoped that 
his scheme of colonization would bring the unruly island 
under his control. However, in order to carry out his pol- 
icy he had to confiscate the land and crowd the natives 
back into the marshes. This act of violence, which the Irish 
took to be nothing less than a crime, stamped an indelible 
hatred of the English in their souls. In the new world, 
another and an altogether more happy colonization was un- 
dertaken. In 1607 the first permanent English colony was 
planted in Virginia, and in 1620 the first band of radical 
Puritans, who had separated themselves from the Anglican 
Church and had at first taken refuge from persecution in 
Holland, set out across the Atlantic. From the valiant 
labors of themselves and their Puritan successors in the 
wilderness of Massachusetts developed in time a prosperous 
colony, and sprang the germs of that society which became 
the United States of America. Furthermore, in 161 2, the 
East India Company, which had been chartered under 
Elizabeth, secured its first foothold in India. Thus, the 
victories of Elizabeth's reign having cleared the way, the 
Anglo-Saxon race planted under James the seeds of its ex- 
pansion in the east and in the west, and laid the founda- 
tions of the English commercial supremacy of our day. 



England in the Seventeenth Century 397 

Reign of Charles /. {i62^-4g). 

Gardiner, 502-60. Green, 496-572. 

Charles I., who succeeded James in the year 1625, was Character 
outwardly very unlike his father. His face, familiar to us Charles, 
from Van Dyck's frequent reproductions, was handsome, 
and his manner kingly. He was also intelligent and con- 
scientious, but viewed the royal prerogative like his father, 
and believed, like him, that a parliament ought not to be 
conciliated, but cowed. 

The two main difficulties created by James bore imme- Struggle 
diate and dangerous fruit in the new reign. James had ^p^^^^" 
roused the slumbering Puritanism of his subjects and had and king 
raised the question with his Parliament as to who controlled a°hea.d 
taxation. Charles, by persisting in James's course of hos- 
tility to Puritans and Parliament, succeeded, in an incredi- 
bly short time, in developing the prejudices of his people 
into a violent opposition to himself, and in rousing the 
Commons, who had been servilely docile under Elizabeth 
and, even Avhile protesting, had been deeply re.spectful 
under James, to the point where they plainly put the ques- 
tion : who was sovereign in England, Parliament or king ? 

In the very year of his accession, Charles married Hen- Charles falls 

rietta Maria, a sister of Louis XIH. of France. This mar- °"^ ^*^^ *^^ 

Commons in 
nage with a Catholic was unpopular in England in itself, matters of 

and was rendered doubly so by the fact that Charles had '■^"Sio"' 
entered upon an agreement with Louis to offer the English 
Catholics his protection. Over this concession to a hostile 
faith the Parliament straightway flew into a passion. It 
grew still- more excited when the fact became known that 
the king had lavished favors upon certain Anglican church- 
men who had publicly attacked the Calvinistic doctrines 
then held by the majority of Englishmen. There is no 
doubt that the king meant well enough, and certainly he 



398 Tlic Modern Period 

was far from tlic thought of betraying the cause of Protes- 
tantism ; hut his rehgious liberahsm bore the character of 
laxity in the minds of the severe behevers of that day and 
aroused general suspicion. The Commons, in consequence, 
adopted an uncompromising Protestant policy. They 
began to lay niore and more stress on those features of the 
Anglican Church which were emphatically Protestant, and 
less and less on those which had been retained from the 
Catholic establishment. Thus while the doctrines aroused 
their enthusiasm, they grew increasingly indifferent about 
the practices and ceremonies. From these latter, however, 
the king, who had a fondness for outward show, would 
abate no jot nor tittle. Monarch and Commons, as a result, 
drifted farther and farther apart on questions of religion; 
and under the unconscious action of resentment, the people 
began falling away from their own ceremonial Anglican 
traditions and edging over to Puritan ground. 
Charles falls Not satisfied with alienating his people by arousing their 
out with IS j.g]jgiQ^g animosity, the king also alienated them by his 
over the war political conduct. The war with Spain furnished him the 
wi pain. Q(,(,^JQj-i j^g \^r^^ inherited it from his father, and was 
bent on carrying it on. The Parliament was not unwilling 
to give him support — for the war with Spain was popular — 
but to such grants of money as it made, it attached the 
condition that the war be carried on effectively and under 
good leaders. This condition Charles, to his misfortune, 
neglected. He intrusted the conduct of the war to the 
duke of Buckingham, once his father's favorite and now 
his own, and Buckingham, who was handsome and dash- 
ing, but unfit for weighty business, reaped nothing but 
disaster. Thus an expedition sent in 1625 against Cadiz 
ended in utter failure. Thereupon, the Commons refused 
to give the king more money until the duke was removed 
from the council, and, as the king refused to allow himself 



England in the Seventeenth Century 399 

to be dictated to in the matter of his ministers, there en- 
sued a deadlock which Charles tried in vain to break by 
the repeated dissolution of Parliament. 

In the year 1627 matters grew worse. The king, not Bucking- 
content with one war upon his hands, allowed himself to and the 

/^ ' Twar with 

be driven into a war with France, in behalf of the French France. 

Huguenots. The Huguenots were being besieged in La 

Rochelle. As there was no other way of getting money for 

a rescuing expedition, Charles adopted a perilous device: 

he forced the rich to make him a loan. But the sums, thus 

illegally extorted, brought no blessing. A relief exi)edition, 

which sailed for La Rochelle under Buckingham, failed as 

miserably as the attack upon Cadiz. As a result ignominy 

in the war with France was added to the ignominy already 

incurred in the war with Spain. 

The Parliament which met in 1628 was therefore justified The Peti- 

in its outbreak of wrath against the Government. Before U^^u^ ^ o 

° Right, 1628. 

granting another penny it insisted that the grievances of the 
nation be redressed. Li a document called the Petition of 
Right, it made a formal assertion of its claims. The 
Petition of Right declared forced loans illegal, and con- 
demned a number of practices, such as arbitrary arrests and 
billeting of troops upon householders. The Petition of 
Right was firmly announced to be a prerequisite to all 
further concessions by the Parliament. Charles, who had 
two wars on his hands and no money, had to give way. 
The Petition of Right, celebrated as a renewal of Magna 
Charta, was accepted and became the law of the land (1628). 
Unfortunately the Petition of Right did not dispose of 
all the internal troubles. The obnoxious Buckingham 
was not dismissed ; the excitement, which had permeated 
all classes, did not subside. Proof of the degree of hatred 
which the party strife had reached was offered soon enough. 
While a new expedition to La Rochelle was fitting out 



400 



The Modern Period 



Murder of 
Bucking- 
ham, 1628. 



Tunnage 
and Pound- 
age, 



The Crisis 
of 1629. 



Eleven 
years of rule 
without 
Parliament. 



at Portsmouth, a fanatic patriot, John Felton by name, 
stabbed Buckingham to death (1628). The Icing grieved 
over the loss of his favorite, but his poHcy remained ob- 
stinately unchanged. And this at a moment when a strug- 
gle was threatening with his Parliament greater than any 
that had preceded ! 

It was the practice in England to vote certain customs 
duties, called Tunnage and Poundage, at the beginning of 
a reign, for the duration of the king's life. These formed 
the most considerable income of the treasury, and without 
them the government could not be carried on. Largely 
by accident the Commons had not voted Tunnage and 
Poundage for the life of Charles, and now that they had a 
grievance against him, they resolved not to vote this tax 
until they had received in return fresh assurances of good 
government. Charles grew highly excited over their con- 
duct, which to him seemed mere bickering, and in the 
session of 1629 the conflict between king and Commons 
broke out anew. After a few unfruitful negotiations, 
Charles determined to dissolve Parliament ; but the mem- 
bers getting wind of it, passed, before the adjournment, 
amidst a scene unparalleled for excitement in English par- 
liamentary annals, a number of resolutions, affirming that 
the levy of Tunnage and Poundage was illegal and that 
whosoever paid it or brought in religious innovations Avas a 
traitor. 

Thus the question of Tunnage and Poundage, added 
to the religious excitement, brought about virtual war 
between king and Parliament. But for the next eleven 
years (1629-40) the king had the upper hand, the exten- 
sive prerogative acquired by his predecessors giving him 
at first a distinct advantage over the ambitious Commons. 
Among other privileges, he was not obliged to assemble 
Parliament at all, unless he wanted a new subsidy, and as 



England in the Seventeenth Century 401 

anything was better than having Parhament again, he now 
resolved to get along with the revenues he had. But this 
plan necessitated economy, and, above all, the termination 
of the expensive wars with France and Spain. Before the 
end of 1630, therefore, Charles had made his peace with 
these two powers. His outlook now was, on the whole, 
exceedingly hopeful. Tunnage and Poundage, although 
condemned by the Commons, was regularly paid into the 
exchequer by a people who were not yet ready to renounce 
their king, and Tunnage and Poundage, taken together with 
a number of other taxes which had been regularly pro- 
vided, were found sufficient for the ordinary expenses of 
the administration. 

During these eleven years of practically absolute govern- 
ment Charles managed matters in Church and state as it 
suited him. For the affairs of the Church his chief adviser 
was William Laud, whom, in 1633, Charles appointed arch- Laud and 
bishop of Canterbury and primate of England. Laud, like ^^^^ ^°^ • 
Charles himself, laid stress upon ceremony and uniformity, 
and proceeded with such vigor against the enemies of cere- 
mony, that in a few years he had either secured the sub- 
mission of the Puritan element or had ejected it from the 
Church. For the affairs of state Charles depended in large 
measure upon Thomas Wentworth, better known by his later 
title of earl of Strafford. Wentworth, who was a firm be- 
liever in strong government, supported the king in his stand 
against Parliament and people, but it is entirely erroneous 
to make him responsible for all the ill-advised measures of 
the monarch. 

Of such measures there were many, all contributing to 
shake Charles's arbitrary position. Notably was this the 
case with ship-money. Ship-money was a tax collected by Ship-money. 
Charles in the year 1634, for the purpose of creating a 
navy. The ordinary method of getting supplies for such 



Hampden. 



402 The Modern Period 

an end would have been to appeal to Parliament, but that 
the king shrank from doing. So he hit upon a subterfuge. 
In former times monarchs had, when the country was in 
danger, ordered the counties bordering on the sea to fur- 
nish ships. Charles issued such an order in the year 1634. 
A little later he declared his willingness to receive money 
instead of ships, and further ordained that the inland coun- 
ties, too, should pay. 

Plainly, this procedure was, if not totally illegal, at least 
hazardous and certain to arouse a great deal of opposition. 

The case of This appeared when a country gentleman, John Hampden 

Hamoden ^^'^ name, preferred rather than pay his share of the tax to 
suffer arrest and trial. The court, when the case came up, 
decided against Hampden, but so wide was the disaffection 
following upon Hampden's trial that it required only an 
occasion for England to show that the loyalty which had 
bound her for ages to her royal house, had suffered fatal 
impairment. 

Charles falls That occasion was furnished by Scotland. In the year 
1637, Charles, with his usual neglect of popular feeling, 
ventured to introduce into Presbyterian Scotland the Prayer 
Book and certain of the Episcopal practices of England. 
The answer of the Scots to this measure was to rise in in- 
surrection. They drew up a national oath or Covenant, 
by which they pledged themselves to resist to the utmost 
all attempts at changing their religion, and when Charles 
did not immediately give in, he found that he had a war 
on his hands. 

The Scotch There follows the campaign of 1639 against the Scots, 

war of 1639 ^y]-,j(.|^ jg known as the First Bishops' War. It was a mis- 
over the ' 

question of erable fiasco. Owing to want of funds, the king led north- 
ward a mere ill-equipped rabble, and when he arrived upon 
the scene, found himself compelled to sign a truce. Be- 
tween his Scotch and English subjects, whom he had alike 



out with the 
Scots 



Episcopacy. 



England in the Seventeenth Century 403 

alienated, his position was now thoroughly humiliating. 
In order to avenge himself upon the Scots, he required 
effective money help from England, and effective money 
help from England involved calling a Parliament. In one 
or the other direction he had, therefore, to make conces- 
sions. Charles fought a hard battle with his pride, but 
finally, feeling that the Scotch matter was the more press- 
ing, he summoned a Parliament (1640). 

Thus the long period of government without a Parlia- The Second 

ment had come to an end. When, however, the Parlia- 7,1^^^^,^ 

' ' War, 1040. 

ment, known as the Short Parliament, began, instead of 
voting moneys, to remind the king of the nation's griev- 
ances, Charles flamed up once more and dismissed it. 
Once more, in despite of his lack of funds, he conducted 
a campaign, known as the Second Bishops' War, against 
the Scots (1640). But when the second experiment had 
failed as badly as the first, he had to acknowledge himself 
finally beaten. 

In the autumn of 1640 he summoned another Parliament, The Long 
which he knew he should not be able to send home at his j^'q'^'"^" ' 
will. The Parliament which met has received from his- 
tory the name of the Long Parliament, and is the most 
famous legislative body in English annals. 

The Long Parliament, as soon as it was installed, took The victory 
the reins into its hands. First the desire for revenge had Commons 
to be satisfied, and accordingly Strafford and Laud were 
executed. Then the whole constitution was practically 
remodelled. Parliament declared everything, the king 
nothing. It Avas the Parliament's answer to the king's des- 
potic rule. Could a king of Charles's temperament submit 
for long to such a terrible abasement ? 

For a year the king bore with the altered circumstances. Division in 

But he was watching for his chance, and the first division „^„ " 
° ' mons. 

among the Commons was his signal to strike. The Com- 



J 



404 



The Modern Period 



Charles 
sides with 
the Episco- 
palians. 



Attempted 
arrest of the 
five mem- 
bers. 



The king 
unfurls his 
banner at 
Notting- 
ham. 

The advan- 
tage is, at 
first, with 
the king. 



mons had agreed admirably on all the political questions 
at issue between themselves and the king. Differences ap- 
peared only when the religious question was presented. 

The sentiment against the Episcopal system had made 
a great deal of progress of late years, but a strong con- 
servative element still supported it. Under the circum- 
stances Puritans and Episcopalians in the Commons fre- 
quently came to hard words, and naturally, as soon as this 
opening in the hitherto solid phalanx of the opposition was 
apparent, Charles took advantage of it. He threw in his 
lot with the Episcopalians, and so once more rallied about 
him a party. 

In January, 1642, he calculated that he was strong 
enough to strike a blow at the predominance of Parliament, 
and attempted to arrest the five leaders, Pym, Hampden, 
Hazelrigg, Holies, and Strode, in full Parliamentary ses- 
sion. But the attempt failed, and Charles, always a little 
timorous, had not the courage to brave the situation 
which he had himself created. When London rose in 
arms, Charles fled, and the schism was complete. In Au- 
gust, 1642, unfurling his banner at Nottingham, he bade 
all loyal Englishman rally to their king. The Parliament 
in its turn gathered an army and prepared to take the 
field. 

The parties about to engage each other seemed to be 
very equally matched. The king's party, called the Cav- 
aliers, held the north and the west, York and Oxford 
being their chief towns, while the adherents of the Parlia- 
ment, known derisively as Roundheads, for the reason that 
many of them cropped their hair close, held the south and 
the east, with London for their centre. Neither side was 
well furnished with troops, but the fact that the slashing 
country gentlemen crowded into the king's service gave 
the royal side, at first, the advantage. In the early cam- 



England in the Seventeenth Century 405 

paigns the army of the Parhament was steadily driven 
back, and on one occasion London, the Parhamentary 
centre, ahaiost fell into the king's hands. It was really 
not until the year 1644 that the Parliament began to de- 
velop an efficient army. At the same time there rose into 
prominence the man who was destined to turn the tables Oliver 
on the king and bring the war to a conclusion — Oliver ^^^^'^^ • 
Cromwell. 

Oliver Cromwell is one of those surprising characters 
who sum up in themselves a whole period of their nation's 
history. He was a country gentleman of the east of Eng- 
land, whose life had become bound up in the Puritan 
cause. With firmness and strength, he coupled an ex- 
traordinary amount of practical good sense, which enabled 
him to see things exactly as they were. Now the great 
business of the hour was a good army. Gradually, there- 
fore, Cromwell collected about himself a special troop of 
men of his own mind — Puritans who had their hearts in 
the cause ; and this troop soon won for itself the grim title 
of Cromwell's Ironsides. 

In the campaign of 1644 Cromwell's Ironsides first Marston 
prominently showed their metal. They contributed large- °°'^' ^ ^^* 
ly to the great victory of Marston Moor over Prince Ru- 
pert, 1 the king's nephew and the dashing leader of his 
horse. At the battle of Newbury, which took place a few 
months later, it is probable that the king would have been 
crushed entirely if Cromwell had not been thwarted by his 
sluggish and incapable superiors. 

That winter Cromwell fiercely denounced in Parliament The army 
the lax method of carrying on war which had hitherto ^ °^^ ' 
prevailed, and so convincing were his criticisms that the 



' Prince Rupert, known as Rupert of the Rhine, was the son of EHza- 
beth, the daughter of James, who had married Frederick of the Palati- 
nate. 



4o6 



The Modern Period 



The decisive 
campaign of 
1645, Nase- 
by. 



Alliance be- 
tween the 
Scots and 
Parliament. 



Presbyte- 
rians and In- 
dependents. 



Commons now carried out a number of sweeping reforms. 
By means of certain ordinances the army was completely 
reorganized and the spirit of Cromwell's Ironsides intro- 
duced into the whole service. The spring of 1645 found 
Sir Thomas Fairfax at the head of the reformed forces and 
Cromwell in command of the horse. 

The effect of the change made itself felt at once: the 
campaign of 1645 proved decisive. At Naseby, in the 
heart of England, the king made his last formidable effort 
(June 14). The gallant Rupert plunged, as usual, through 
the squadrons of horse opposite him, but Cromwell in the 
meantime broke the king's left and centre and won the 
day. For almost a year the king still held out, vainly 
hoping relief from this or that small circumstance. In 
May, 1646, judging that all was over, he surrendered to 
the Scots, who occupied the English north. 

The Scots had joined the English Parliament against 
the king in the year 1643. They had treated the first 
suggestions of alliance with indifference, and when they 
finally consented to join the English, they made a very 
hard condition : they demanded that their own Presby- 
terian system of church government be established also in 
England. The stiff Puritan opinion in the Parliament re- 
volted at first at the thought of a foreign dictation, but as 
the majority were well disposed to the Presbyterian sys- 
tem, and the danger from the king was pressing, the al- 
liance between Scots and Parliament was formally ap- 
proved on the proposed basis. 

However, a handful of commoners standing for religious 
tolerance protested against the treaty to the last. To them 
the uniformity of belief enforced by the Presbyterian Kirk 
was no whit less hateful than the uniformity of service de- 
manded by the Anglican Church. But being a mere hand- 
ful, they would have been overridden without a word if 



England in the Seventeenth Century 407 

they had not received support from a very important 
quarter : their religious views had the approval of Crom- 
well and his Ironsides. Under the circumstances the ma- 
jority was obliged to proceed with caution, especially while 
the war continued and the troops had to be kept in good 
humor. Thus the contention slumbered for a time, but as 
soon as the battle of Naseby had been won and the enemy 
scattered, the quarrel between the Presbyterians and the 
Independents, as the advocates of tolerance were called, 
assumed a more serious aspect. 

When the king surrendered to the Scots he was well in- The calcula- 
formed of these differences of opinion among the victors, Jji" ° ^ 
and hoped, in his small-minded way, to find his profit in 
them. Let the army, representing the Independents and 
their view of tolerance, only fall to quarrelling with the 
majority of the Parliament, representing the Presbyterians 
and their uncompromising system of uniformity, and his, 
the king's, alliance would prove invaluable. 

Herein Charles calculated both well and ill. In the The Parlia- 
year 1647 the Scots surrendered him, on the payment of ^e"t offends 
a good price, to the Parliament. The Presbyterians there- 
upon tried to hurry through a settlement, while the army 
offered a different set of terms. Endless intrigues resulted, 
in which the Scots, too, took a hand, and the consequence 
was that in the year 1648 there broke out a war among 
Charles's enemies — the Scots supported by English Pres- 
byterian influence being pitted against the army. So far 
Charles had calculated well. In the long run, however, The civil 
his petty calculations shot wide of the mark, for Fairfax ^^ed'1648 
and Cromwell very quickly laid their enemies at their feet. 

Then the army returned to London to have vengeance 
upon what it called the bloody authors of the struggle, the 
Presbyterian majority of the Commons and the king. On 
December 6, 1648, a troop under the command of Colonel 



408 



The Modern Period 



Pride's 
purge, 1648. 



The execu- 
tion of the 
king, Janu- 
ary 30, 1649. 



The break- 
down of the 
constitu- 
tion. 



Pride expelled the Presbyterian members, to the number 
of about one hundred, from the House No more than 
fifty or sixty commoners retained their seats, and these, 
the mere tools of the army, received the contemptuous 
name of the Rump Parliament. 

Next the army turned upon the king, firmly resolved to 
subject him to a trial. As there were no legal provisions 
in the constitution for such a step, the now servile Parlia- 
ment created a special high court of justice to try the king. 
The end, of course, was to be foreseen. The high court 
of justice found the king guilty of treason, and on January 
30, 1649, he was executed on a scaffold before his own 
palace of Whitehall. He had never been shaken in the 
conviction that the right, during the whole course of the 
civil war, had been with him, and he died bravely in that 
belief. 

The king's death had been preceded by the dissolution 
of the House of Lords because of the refusal of that body to 
take the army's side. The English constitution, therefore, 
was now a wreck ; tlie king and Lords had disappeared, the 
Commons were a fragment. The power lay solely with the 
army, and the burning question of the day was : Would the 
revolutionists of the army be able to build a new constitu- 
tion along new lines? 



The com- 
monwealth. 



T/ie Commomvealth and the Protectorate {164^-60). 

Gardiner, 561-77. Green, 572-604. 

On the death of the king, the Rump Parliament voted 
that England was a commonwealth, and appointed, pro- 
visionally, a council of state to act as the executive branch 
of the government. 

There was work enough ahead for the young republic, for 
in Ireland and Scotland Charles H. had been proclaimed 



England in the Seventeenth Century 409 
king. The council of state insisting that these kingdoms Cromwell 

oil r^rt 1 1 o c T r ^ m 

should not be allowed to go a separate way in politics, j^^^^ (1640) 
Cromwell was dispatched against them. In 1649 he and Scot- 
brought the Irish to terms by means of bloody massacres ^ (^ 5 )• 
at Drogheda and Wexford. This done, the victor turned 
to Scotland. At Dunbar (1650) Cromwell's soldiers, 
whose tempers were like the steel with which they smote, 
scattered one Scotch army ; and when a second army, with 
Charles II. in its midst, struck across the border in the hope 
of stirring up an English rebellion, Cromwell starting in 
pursuit met it at Worcester, in the heart of England, and 
won the crowning victory of his life (165 1). Charles II. 
escaped, after various romantic adventures, to the conti- 
nent ; but the Scots came to terms, and thus the authority 
of the commonwealth was established throughout Great 
Britain and Ireland. 

Now that England had peace, the question of a per- Dismissal of 
manent government became more pressing. Everybody p^ r""^^t 
clamored for a settlement. Only the Rump Parliament 1653. 
was in no hurry, and the fifty or sixty members who com- 
posed it clung to office, finding power a delightful thing. 
In April, 1653, Cromwell, despairing of good through such 
a Parliament, resolved to have done with it. He invaded 
the Parliament with a detachment of troops and ordered 
the members home. "Come, come," he shouted in in- 
dignation, " we have had enough of this. It is not fit you 
should sit here any longer." Thus the last fragment of the 
old constitution had vanished. 

A new Parliament, freely elected by the nation, would have 
been one solution of the difficulties which now confront- 
ed Cromwell. But such a Parliament would immediately 
have called back the king, and Cromwell was ready to try 
all possible means before he declared that the great cause 
had failed. After a few vain shifts, he therefore accepted a 



4IO 



The Modern Period 



Oliver, Pro- 
tector. 



The Pro- 
tectorate a 
failure at 
home. 



England 
refuses to 
accept toler- 
ation. 



constitution, called the Instrument of Government, which 
was drawn up by his ofificers, and which named him Lord 
Protector. By the Instrument of Government, Oliver, the 
Lord Protector, together with a Council of State, was to 
exercise the executive, while a Parliament of a single house, 
from which all partisans of the king were excluded, was to 
perform the legislative functions of government. The new 
attempt came nearer than any of the others to being a 
solution of the political difficulties into which England had 
been plunged ; but, unfortunately, even this partial success 
was due solely to the fact that the new constitution prac- 
tically placed in control an entirely efficient man. 

The five years (1653-58) of Oliver's rule as Protector 
were full of difficulties. His first Parliament insisted on 
revising the Instrument of Government. As that was 
tantamount to calling the whole settlement in question, 
Oliver dissolved the Parliament in anger (January, 1655). 
For awhile now he ruled without a Parliament. There 
were frequent attempts upon his life, republican con- 
spiracies, royalist risings, the cares and annoyances insep- 
arable from power. But his brave spirit was undaunted 
and he met every difficulty as it arose. As it was better to 
rule with the nation than without, he called a second Par- 
liament in the year 1656, and with this he got along more 
smoothly for awhile. The traditional English conserva- 
tism governed this assembly, and it tried to get back upon 
the lines of the old constitution. It even offered to make 
Oliver king. But he declined the honor, and soon new 
quarrels arose which led to a new dissolution (February, 
1658). 

In all this time the great principle of toleration for which 
Oliver stood had made no progress. Oliver's idea had 
been to give all Protestant Christians, whether they were 
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, or Puritans, the protection of 



England in the Seventeenth Century 411 

the law. But the fierce religious temper of the time hin- 
dered the majority from seeing any right outside of their own 
faith, or feeling any obligation to put up with any other. 
Oliver, like all men who are ahead of their time, was left 
without support. The animosities of his antagonists, as 
well as of his followers, even forced him before long to 
trench upon his own principles. In 1655 he began per- 
secuting those who held to the Book of Common Prayer, 
and long before his end he had the bitter conviction that 
the government of the Puritan Commonwealth rested on no 
single principle that had taken root in the nation, and that 
it lived entirely by the will and vigor of one man. 

If Oliver was thus reaping failure at home, he added The Protec- 
triumph to triumph abroad. From 1652 to 1654 there had ^g^ alfroad" 
been a war with the Dutch caused by the famous Naviga- 
tion Act. The Dutch had in the seventeenth century got 
the carrying trade of the world into their hands ; by means 
of the Navigation Act (165 1) the Parliament planned to 
bring part of it to England. The Act ordained that im- 
ported goods be carried in English ships, or else in ships 
belonging to the country in which the goods were produced. 
The Dutch declared war rather than suffer this injury, but The first 

after a few defeats had to accept what they could not alter, r!^* ^^^ 

. (1052-54). 

Soon after Oliver entered into an alliance with France 

(1655) against Spain. Jamaica, in the West Indies, was War with 

taken from Spain by an English fleet, and Dunkirk, in the ^P^*"- 

Spanish Netherlands, after a French-English victory over 

the Spaniards on the Dunes, was surrendered to Cromwell's 

representatives. Since the days of Elizabeth, the name of 

England had not enjoyed such respect as it did now. 

Thus to the end the Protector held the rudder firmly. The death of 

But his health was broken by his great responsibilities, and *^^ ^'^°^,^*^" 

■> ^ >■ ' tor, Septem- 

on the third day of September, 1658, shortly after a great ber 3, 1658. 
storm had swept over the island, he passed away. 



412 The Modern Period 

Anarchy. Cromwell's death was followed by a year of pure anarchy. 

The republic was dead. For awhile, however, Richard 
Cromwell, Oliver's commonplace son, ruled as Protector 
(to April, 1659) ; then the soldiers tried their talents ; and 
finally, even the Long Parliament appeared again upon the 
scene. Clearly, after all these shifts, Charles II. was the 
only choice left ; it was but necessary that some strong 
man should act in the absent king's behalf and order would 
be restored. The strong man was found in General George 
Monk. Monk, one of Cromwell's most capable lieutenants, 
refusing to close his eyes longer to the real situation, de- 
The Resto- termined to promote the restoration of the Stuarts and the 
1660"' ^^' reinvigoration of the old constitution. Charles II. was 
merely asked to promise a general pardon. This Charles 
did, and when, a month later, he landed at Dover (May, 
1660), he was received with universal shouts of welcome. 
Some days before a new Parliament had formally restored 
the ancient constitution, voting that " the government is, 
and ought to be, by king. Lords and Commons." 

The Restoration. Charles II. (^1660-85) and James II. 

(168S-88). 

Gardiner, 578-648 ; Green, 605-83. 

The Resto- Charles II. was one of the most iwpular monarchs Eng- 

ration is a j.jj-|j g^^j. ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^-^^ popularity was due not so much to 

change in . 

life and his talents as to his vices. To understand this we must re- 

member that the Restoration is a complex movement. It 
marks not merely the break-down of the Puritan experi- 
ment of government, but also a revulsion from the severe 
and colorless scheme of life which the Puritans imposed 
upon society. Like one who had thirsted a long while, 
the Englishman of the Restoration, therefore, threw him- 
self greedily upon splendor and distractions. Profligacy 



manners. 



England in the Seventeenth Century 413 

became the fashion of the day, and Charles, because he 
satisfied the contemporary ideal in that he was corrupt, 
witty, and amiable, assumed the position of a sort of popu- 
lar hero. 

Now that the monarchy was restored, it was almost as if 
the revolution had not taken place, for the constitutional 
questions at issue between king and Parliament were left 
much as they had been before the war broke out. For the 
present, however, everybody was so entirely taken up with 
rejoicing at the restoration of order, that the quarrel about 
the measure of the king's prerogative dropped from sight. 

The Cavalier Parliament, as the Parliament elected in The Cava- 
166 1 and allowed to hold power for eighteen years, was ^^J^^^ ^^' 
significantly called, completely expressed this reactionary 
sentiment of the country : it was more royal than the king. 
An index of its political sentiment is furnished by its vote 
that no one could lawfully take arms against the sovereign. 
In religious matters its stand was even more uncompromis- 
ing. The Cavalier Parliament stood for the Church of 
England and nothing but the Church of England, and 
initiated against all non-Anglicans a severe policy of per- 
secution. 

In the year 1661 the Parliament enacted the Corporation The Corpo- 
Act, which provided that every one who held an office in 155°" ^ ' 
a municipal corporation would have to take the oath of 
non-resistance to the king, and receive the sacrament ac- 
cording to the rites of the Church of England. The meas- 
ure, of course, turned all non-Anglicans out of the city 
governments. The next year (1662) there followed a new The new 
Act of Uniformity, by which every clergyman who did not y-^^ °^ ^"*' 
accept every prescription of the Book of Common Prayer 1662. 
was expelled from his living. Hundreds of the Presby- 
terian and Puritan clergy resigned their cures rather than 
assent, and from now on men of these faiths, together with 



414 



The Modern Period 



The Dis- 
senters. 



The real 
enemy is 
Cathol- 
icism. 



Foreign 
policy. 



The first 
Dutch War 
of the Res- 
toration, 
1664-67. 



The friend- 
ship of 
Louis and 
Charles. 



the adherents of the other sects which had lately arisen, 
such as the Baptists and the Quakers, were embraced by 
the common name of Dissenters. 

It is not probable that the Cavalier Parliament would 
have insisted on the national creed with such vehemence, 
if it had not been persuaded that toleration granted to the 
Dissenters would open a loop-hole for the Catholics. And 
just then the suspicion against Catholicism was stronger in 
the land than ever, because of the secret machinations of 
the court in behalf of this faith. Had the facts that were 
only whispered in the palace-passages been known at West- 
minster, there can be no doubt that the religious legisla- 
tion would have been even more stringent than it was ; for 
Charles, although afraid to publish the truth, had, not long 
after the Restoration, secretly embraced Catholicism. 

A monarch who identified himself so little in religious 
matters with his people was not likely to serve them in for- 
eign affairs. In fact, his guidance of England was weak 
and unintelligent, being determined simply by aversion to 
the Dutch and affection for Louis XIV. of France. 

The commercial rivalry between the Dutch and Engli.sh 
had ever since the Navigation Act (1651) been very in- 
tense. It is not astonishing therefore that the war of 
Oliver's time should have been followed soon by another, 
known as the first Dutch War of the Restoration (1664-67). 
Both nations proved themselves plucky seamen, and when 
peace was signed, England relaxed the Navigation Act 
somewhat in favor of the Dutch, and the Dutch ceded their 
colony New Amsterdam, which was renamed New York. 

This was the time in European politics of the ascendancy 
of France. The leading fact of the general situation was 
that Louis XIV. was planning to extend his territory at the 
expense of his neighbors. The logical policy of England 
as the rival of France would have been to support the vie- 



England in the Seventeenth Century 415 

tim against the aggressor ; but Charles allowed himself to 
be directed by personal motives. Naturally his riotous 
life kept him involved in constant money difficulties. Fort- 
unes were flung away on entertainments or were lavished 
on courtiers and mistresses. To get money, therefore, 
became Charles's first object in life, and Louis XIV., who 
was always a clever manager, was perfectly willing to oblige 
his brother of England, if he could by this means buy Eng- 
land's aid, or at least, her neutrality in the conflicts he 
anticipated. Now the French king began his aggressions 
in the year 1667, by invading the Spanish Netherlands; 
but after taking a few towns he was forced to desist, chiefly 
owing to the energetic protest of the Dutch. No wonder 
that Louis resolved to have revenge on this nation of 
traders. By the secret Treaty of Dover (1670) he won Treaty of 
over Charles, by a handsome sum, to join him in his pro- o^^^> ^ 7°- 
jected war against the Dutch ; and Charles, in his turn, 
stipulated to avow himself a Catholic and to accept aid 
from Louis in case his subjects, on the news of his conver- 
sion, revolted against him. 

When, in the year 1672, everything was at length ready, 
Louis and Charles fell upon the Dutch, engaging in what, 
in England, is known as the Second Dutch War of the Second 
Restoration. Just as the war was about to break out, ^f" jj^g Res-*" 
Charles, not yet daring to announce himself a Catholic, toration 
published a decree of toleration, the so-called Declaration ^^ ' '^ 
of Indulgence, which, overriding the statutes of Parliament, The Declar- 
gave to Catholics and Dissenters freedom of worship. Such indulgence, 
a declaration invites the sympathy of us moderns, but it is 
necessary to remember in judging it that its motives were 
impure. This the people felt, and when Parliament met, 
its tone became so threatening that the king withdrew his 
Declaration. When this was done (1673), the war had lost 
its interest for Charles, and as the English people were 



4i6 The Modern Period 

learning to feel more and more strongly that their real enemy- 
was the French and not the Dutch, Charles further gave 
way to popular pressure and concluded peace (1674). Thus 
the Treaty of Dover came to nothing, except in so far as 
it involved the Dutch in another heroic combat for life 
and liberty. So stubborn was their defence under their 
Stadtholder, William III. of Orange, that Louis XIV. fi- 
nally followed Charles's example and withdrew from the 
struggle (Peace of Nimwegen, 1678). 
The Test But the Parliament was not satisfied with having forced 

Act, 1073. j.j^g j^jj^g j.^ withdraw his Declaration of Indulgence. To 

secure the country further against the secret machinations 
of the court, it added a crowning act to its intolerant re- 
ligious legislation — the Test Act (1673). 1'^^ Corpora- 
tion Act (1661) had already purged the municipalities of 
non-Anglicans ; by the Test Act ^ the exclusion was ex- . 
tended to office-holders of any kind. 
The death of Charles died in the year 1685, after a reign of twenty- 
68^/ ^^^^ years. On his death-bed he did what he had been 

afraid to do during his life : he confessed himself a Cath- 
olic. 

Charles's reign is marked by an advance in the polit- 
ical life of the nation which deserves sharp attention. 
Under him there began to be formed for the first time 
parties with a definite programme and something like a 
Creation of permanent organization. These were the parties known 
arv o^Ttles'- ^^ Whigs and Tories,^ and the chief question on which 
Whigs and they split was the question of toleration. The Tories, 
°"^^' who were mostly the small country gentlemen, stood for 



'The Test Act is so named because every man, before taking office 
was tested with regard to his faitli by his wiljingness or unwillingness to 
take the sacrament as prescribed by the Church of England. 

2 These names were originally taunts. Tory is derived from the Irish 
and signifies robber, ^\'hig comes from Whiggam. a cry with which 
the Scotch peasants exhorted their horses. Applied as a party name, it 
was intended to convey the idea of a sneaking Covenanter. 



England in the Seventeenth Century 417 

no-toleration for Dissenters ; the Whigs, on the other hand, 
whose ranks were filled up largely from the great nobles and 
the middle classes, wished to promote this act of justice ; 
both parties, being equally Protestant, agreed in denying 
toleration to the Catholics. Whigs and Tories from now 
on play a role of increasing importance in the history of 
England. 

James II., who succeeded his brother Charles, was not James is un- 
only a Catholic, which, of course, raised an impassable bar- P°P" ^^' 
rier between him and his subjects, but he was also imbued 
with the same ideas of Divine Right as his father Charles I., 
and he held to them as stubbornly as ever that monarch 
had done. Under these circumstances the new reign did 
not promise well. 

As James was a Catholic among Protestants, he should at His Cath- 
the very least, have kept quiet. But he seems to have been ° pohcy. 
possessed with the idea that he had been made king for the 
express purpose of furthering the Catholic cause. He did not 
even trouble himself to proceed cautiously, and in imitation 
of his brother, published, in the year 1687, a Declara- 
tion of Indulgence, suspending all penalties against Cath- 
olics and Dissenters. Regardless of the universal discon- 
tent he published the next year a Second Declaration, and 
ordered it to be read from all the pulpits. Most of the 
clergy refused to conform to this tyrannical order, and The trial of 
seven bishops presented to the king a written protest, ifili^'^^^^^' 
James's answer was an order that legal proceedings be taken 
against them. Immense excitement gathered around the 
trial, which occurred in June, 1688. 

These and other irregularities were borne with for a Son born to 
time, because the next heir to the throne, James's daugh- J^'"^^ ^'• 
ter, Mary, who was a child of his first marriage and the 
wife of William of Orange, was a Protestant. When, how- 
ever, James's second wife gave birth, in June, 1688, to a 



41 8 The Modern Period 

son, who by the English law would take precedence over 
Mary, consternation seized the whole people. The son, it 
was foreseen, would be educated in the Catholic religion, 
and thus the Catholic dynasty would be perpetuated. As 
the birth of the son and the trial of the seven bishops oc- 
curred about the same time (June, 1688), England was 
filled with excitement from end to end. Seizing the op- 
portunity, a few patriotic nobles invited William of Orange 
and his wife Mary to come to England's rescue. 
The Glori- In November, 1688, William landed in England, and 

tion of 1688. bnmediately the people of all classes gathered around him. 
The army which James sent against him refused to fight, 
and James found himself without a supporter. Seeing 
that the game was up, he sent his wife and child to France, 
and shortly after followed in person. Perhaps never in 
history had there been so swift and so bloodless a revolu- 
tion. 

The Parliament, which met to deliberate on these events, 
declared the throne vacant, and offered it to William and 
Throne Mary as joint sovereigns. As William and Mary were not 

Wn'l^am'and ^^^^ legitimate heirs, the sovereign of England was by this 
Mary. act virtually declared to be the nominee of the Parliament, 

and henceforth, the doctrine that an English king held his 
office by Divine Right was quietly dropped. The Parlia- 
ment furthermore fortified its position against the king in 
Bill of a Bill of Rights (1689), by which it declared the law 

Rights, supreme over the king. Therewith the conflict between 

king and Parliament was over, and Parliament had again 
won. And the new victory was far more satisfactory than 
the earlier radical victory of Cromwell, for the ancient his- 
torical constitution was not destroyed ih.\s time, but merely 
modified in accordance with the national needs. 

But the "Glorious Revolution" did more; it also 
paved the way for a religious settlement. On motion of the 



England in the Seventeenth Century 419 

Whigs, Parliament passed, almost simultaneously with the The Tolera- 
Bill of Rights, a Toleration Act, by which Dissenters were ^^o^ ^ ' 
given the right of public worship. The repressive legisla- 
tion indeed was not repealed, and Catholics were treated 
as harshly as ever, but the Toleration Act satisfied the 
religious demands of the majority of Englishmen, and 
religious peace was, by means of it, established in the 
kingdom. Bill of Rights and Toleration Act inaugurated 
in England the era of a new and genuine constitutional- 
ism. 

The literature of the seventeenth century presents, in The litera- 
sharp contrast, the two theories of life which combated "'^^' 
each other under the party names of Cavalier and Round- 
head. The moral severity, the noble aspirations of Puri- 
tanism found a poet in John Milton (" Paradise Lost," 
1667), and a simple-minded eulogist in John Bunyan 
("Pilgrim's Progress," 1675). But the literary reign of 
these men and their followers was short, for the Restora- 
tion quickly buried them under its frivolity and laughter. 
Inevitably literature followed the currents of the contem- 
porary life, and Milton and Bunyan were succeeded by a 
school of licentious dramatists and literary triflers. John 
Dryden (1631-1701), although himself a man of sturdy 
qualities, became, by the force of circumstances, the leader 
of the Restoration set. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

Analysis and Comparison of the Petition of Right and of the Bill of 
Rights. For Petition of Right, see Gardiner, Constitutional Documents, 
pp. 1-5. For Bill of Rights, see Gee and Hardy, p. 645 ff. Both 
documents in Stubbs, Select Cliarters. Clarendon Press. See also 
Taswell-Langmead, Chapters XIII. and XV. 

The Intolerant Legislation of the Cavalier Parliament: Penal 
Laws and Tests. Gee and Hardy, p. 594 fif. Taswell-Langmead, 
Chapter XV. 



420 



The Modern Period 



CHAPTER XXVI 



THE ASCENDANCY OF FRANCE 

(1643-1715) 



UNDER LOUIS XIV. 



The work of 
Richelieu. 



Mazarin, 

Richelieu's 

successor. 



LITERATURE. — Wakeman, Europe, 1598-1715. $1.75- Chaps. IX. -XI., 
XIV., XV. Macmillan. 
Kitchin, llistoiy of Frame. 3 vols. $7.80. Macmillan. 
Y\3i%%&\\, Louis XIV. (Heroes.) $1.50. Putnam. 
Ad&ms, Growth 0/ t/te French Nation. $1.00. Macmillan. 

The work of Richelieu had cleared the way for the su- 
l)remacy of France in Europe. By destroying the political 
privileges of the Huguenots and by breaking the power of 
the nobility, he had freed the royal authority from the last 
restraints which weighed upon it, and had rendered it 
absolute. In foreign matters Richelieu had engaged France 
in the Thirty Years' War, and had reaped for her the bene- 
fits of the Peace of Westphalia (1648). But just at this 
point, as France was about to assume a dominant position, 
she was threatened once more, and as it proved, for the 
last time under the old monarchy, by civil war. 

The government, upon the death of Louis XIII. (1643), 
passed into the hands of his queen, Anne of Austria, who 
was named regent for the five-year-old king. At the same 
time the post of first minister, which had been occupied 
by Richelieu, fell to the confidant of the regent, another 
churchman and an Italian by birth. Cardinal Mazarin. 
Mazarin carried out faithfully the political intentions of 
Richelieu, but encountered, like his predecessor, the envy 
of the great nobles, the chief of whom was the famous 
general, the prince of Cond6. The Peace of Westphalia 
had not yet been signed, when certain nobles ro.se (1648) 
against the crown, in the hope that the new minister would 
prove not to be of the metal of his predecessor. The 



Ascendancy of France under Louis XIV. 421 



event showed that they were mistaken. Although the 
Parhament of Pan's joined the high-born rebels, thus giv- 
ing the new civil disturbances something of the character 
of a popular movement, the Fronde (1648-53), as the The Fronde, 
rising against Mazarin was called, was, after the first year, (^*^48-53)- 
nothing but the struggle of the nobility to recover its 
feudal privileges. Such a struggle deserved to fail ; and if 
it now failed it was chiefly because France saw that in a 
question between king and nobles, her self-interest bound 
her to the former. The Fronde may be called the death- 
agony of the nobility as a feudal governing class. From 
the time of its suppression the nobles gradually transformed 
themselves into a body of docile courtiers, who were rarely 
occupied with anything more serious than the dances and 
spectacles of Versailles. 

The Peace of Westphalia was signed between France and 
the Austrian branch of the House of Hapsburg. Because 
France, in union with the Dutch, had been very successful 
in the Spanish Netherlands, she was unwilling to draw off 
and conclude a peace with the Spanish branch of the Haps- 
burgs without an adequate reward. As this was refused, 
war with Spain still went on after the Peace of Westphalia The war 
had composed the rest of Europe. The Fronde occurring ^**^ Spam, 
at this time, turned the tables and inclined the balance for 
some years in favor of Spain, but as soon as the Fronde 
was beaten down, Mazarin was able to win back the lost 
ground and force Spain to terms. Owing to foreign war 
and internal revolution, Spain was, in fact, at her last gasp. 
When she signed with France the Peace of the Pyrenees The Peace 
(1659), she signed away with it the last vestige of the °'*"^ 
supremacy which she had once exercised in Europe. 1659. 

With the glory of the Peace of the Pyrenees still linger- 
ing around him, Mazarin died (1661). Thereupon the 
young Louis XIV., now twenty-three years of age, resolved 



422 



The Modern Period 



The per- 
sonal gov- 
ernment of 
Louis XIV. 



Absolutism 
becomes 
Divine 
Right. 



The king's 
reforms. 



Colbert. 



Colbert 
establishes 
the protect- 
ive system. 



to take the government into his own hands, and from this 
forward the business of the French Government was trans- 
acted practically by himself. It is said that he once stated 
his political theory in the words: Peiat c' est moi (I am 
the state). The phrase expresses admirably the spirit of 
his reign, for he held himself to be the absolute head of 
the state, and regarded his ministers not as the responsible 
heads of departments, but as clerks. Absolutism had ex- 
isted in Europe long before Louis XIV., but Louis XIV. 
hedged the absolute monarchs around with a new divinity, 
and gave the doctrine of the Divine Right of kings a more 
splendid setting and a more general currency than it had 
ever had before. 

Louis began auspiciously enough by giving much atten- 
tion to the improvement of the machinery of government. 
He reorganized the diplomatic service; he rendered the 
administration more effective; he enlarged the army and 
navy; and he purged the finances of disorder and estab- 
lished them upon a sounder basis. The king's most effi- 
cient helper in all this was Jean Colbert (1619-83). Col- 
bert served the king as minister of finance, and merely by 
putting an end to peculation and applying the principles 
of business order, he succeeded in turning the annual de- 
ficit of the state into a surplus. 

This same Colbert was also a great economic thinker, and 
is celebrated as the father of the system of j)rotection. He 
wished to increase the national wealth, and in pursuit of 
this aim, encouraged exportation, and, as far as possible, 
discouraged importation. Whether this policy be scienti- 
fically right or wrong, French manufactures certainly de- 
veloped greatly under Colbert, and French silks, brocades, 
and glass captured, and have held to this day, the markets 
of the world. Colbert also developed internal communi- 
cations by an admirable system of roads and canals, and 



Ascendancy of France under Louis XIV. 423 

supported colonial enterprises, settlements being made at 
this time in the West Indies, Louisiana, and India. 

Unfortunately Louis's successes turned his head. He Louis 
was only a young man, and had governed only a few years, conaue^of 
and now he found himself the cynosure of all Europe. In 
all truth he could say that he was the first power of the 
world. But in proportion as he found that his neighbors 
were no match for him, he began to be tempted by the 
thought of making them his dependents. It was not a 
high ambition, this, still it won the day with him. In the 
year 1667, therefore, Louis entered upon a career of aggres- 
sion and conquest, which, after a few brilliant results, led 
to such a succession of disasters that the man whose progress 
had been attended by clouds of incense, wafted by admiring 
courtiers, closed his career in ignominy. 

Four great wars substantially filled the rest of Louis's His wars, 
life. They were: i, The War with Spain for the posses- 
sion of the Spanish Netherlands (1667-68) ; 2, the War 
with the Dutch (1672-78) ; 3, the War of the Palatinate 
(1688-97); 4, the War of the Spanish Succession (1701- 

14). 

In 1667 Louis suddenly invaded the Spanish Nether- The war of 
lands. The fact that he tried to justify himself by putting N^ther^"'^^ 
forth some vague claims of his Spanish wife to these terri- lands, 
tories, only added hypocrisy to violence. His well-ap- 
pointed army took place after place. Spain was too weak 
to offer resistance, and if the Dutch, frightened at the pros- 
pect of such a neighbor as Louis, had not bestirred them- 
selves, Louis would have overrun all the Spanish Nether- 
lands. The Triple Alliance of the Dutch, England, and 
Sweden, formed by the rapid ingenuity of the republican 
patriot, John de Witt, who was at this time at the head of 
the Dutch Government, bade Louis halt. Louis, on occa- 
sion, could distinguish the possible from the impossible. 



424 



TJie Modern Period 



The isola- 
tion of the 
Dutch. 



The House 
of Orange to 
the front. 



The char- 
acter of 
William. 



In answer to the threat of the Triple Alliance, he declared 
himself satisfied with a frontier strip and retired. The 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) formally secured him 
in his bold theft (1668). 

For the next few years I>ouis seemed to be dominated by 
a single thought — revenge ni)on the Dutch, and the plan he 
formed was to sever the Dutch from all their friends and 
allies, and then fall upon them unawares. The diplomatic 
campaign, preliminary to the declaration of war, was 
crowned by complete success. Sweden and the emperor 
were detached from the Dutch by treaties of neutrality ; 
and Charles II., by the Treaty of Dover (1670), was even 
pledged to join the forces of England with the French in 
the proposed war. In the spring of 1672 everything was 
ready. While the combined French and English fleets en- 
gaged the Dutch fleet under the celebrated Admiral Ruy- 
ter in the Channel, the French army, led by Conde and 
Turenne, invaded the territory of the Seven United Prov- 
inces by following the course of the Rhine. 

In a few weeks most of the provinces were in the hands 
of the French. And now a terrible indignation swept 
over the alarmed Dutch. They fell upon and murdered 
the republican leader de Witt whom they blamed for their 
calamities, and would be satisfied with nothing less than 
the reinstatement of the House of Orange, which, at the 
close of the Spanish war, had lost its influence. In an 
outburst of enthusiasm, William III. of Orange was made 
Stadtholder and supreme commander on sea and land. 
This William was far from being a genius, but he was 
sprung from an heroic race, and the responsibility for a 
nation's safe-keeping which was put upon him in a stern 
crisis, brought out liis best (]ualities. The English ambas- 
sador, on the occasion of the French invasion, invited him 
to submit, urging that it was easy to see that the Republic 



Ascendancy of France under Louis XIV. 425 

was lost. " I know one means of never seeing it," he 
replied, " to die in the last ditch." It was this spirit 
that now steeled the temper of the little people and ena- 
bled them to emulate the deeds of their ancestors against 
Spain. 

Before Louis could take the heart of the Netherlands, 
the city of Amsterdam, the Dutch had, at the order of 
William, cut the dykes and restored their country to the The Dutch 

original dominion of the waters. Louis had to retreat ; ""^^'' °^" 
^ ' comes gen- 

his opportunity was lost. But Europe was now thoroughly eral. 
aroused, and before many months had passed, there had 
rallied to the cause of the Dutch, the emperor, the states 
of the Empire, and Spain. In the year 1674 the position 
of LouiscWas still further weakened. In that year the state 
of English public opinion forced Charles II. to abandon 
Louis and make his peace with the Dutch. Louis was 
thereupon left to face a great continental coalition with no 
ally but remote Sweden. The odds in a struggle with all 
Europe were patently against Louis, and although the 
superiority of French organization and French generalship 
enabled him to win every pitched battle with his foes, he 
was glad enough to end the war when peace was offered. 
By the treaty of Nimwegen (1678) he was permitted to 
incorporate the Franche Comte (the Free County of Bur- 
gundy) with France. 

The second war, too, although it had roused a European 
alliance against Louis, had brought him its prize of a new 
province. Louis was now at the zenith of his glory. The Louis takes 
imperious temper he developed is well exhibited by an ^g'si) ""^^ 
event of the year 1681. In a period of complete peace 
he fell upon the city of Strasburg, the last stronghold of the 
Empire in Alsace, and incorporated it with France. 

A cloud that settled on the spirit of the king at this time 
prepared a monstrous action. The frivolous, pleasure-loving 



426 



The Modern Period 



Madame de 
Maintenon. 



The Revo- 
cation of the 
Edict of 
Nantes, 
1685. 



England 
joins Eu- 
rope against 
Louis. 



Louis, having lately fallen under the influence of a devout 
Catholic lady, Madame de Maintenon, the governess of 
some of his children, was suddenly seized with religious 
exaltation. To Madame de Maintenon the eradication of 
heresy was a noble work, and Louis, taking the cue from 
her, began gradually to persecute the Protestants. At 
first, innocently enough, rewards were offered to voluntary 
converts; then the government proceeded to take more 
drastic measures; and, finally, in 1685, two years after 
Louis had formally married Madame de Maintenon, and 
had thus become thoroughly enslaved to her policy, he 
revoked the Edict of Nantes, by virtue of which the Hugue- 
nots had enjoyed a partial freedom of worship for almost 
one hundred years. Therewith the Protestant faith was 
l)roscribed within the boundaries of France. The blow 
which by this insane measure struck the prosperity of the 
country was more injurious than a disastrous war. Thou- 
sands of Huguenots — the lowest estimate speaks of 50,000 
families — fled across the border and carried their industry, 
their capital, and their civilization to the enemies of 
France — chiefly to Holland, America, and Prussia. 

The occupation of Strasburg and the Revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes were events belonging to an interval of 
peace. But Louis was already planning a new war. When 
his preparations became known, the emj^eror, the Dutch, 
and Spain concluded, at the instigation of William of 
Orange, a new alliance. Happily before the war had well 
begun, a lucky chance won England for the allies. In 
1688 James II. was overthrown by the "glorious revol- 
ution," and William of Orange became king of England. 
As the temper of the English people had at the same time 
become thoroughly anti-French, William had no diffi- 
culty in persuading them to join Europe against the French 
monarch. Thus in the new war — called the war of the 



Ascendancy of France under Louis XIV. 427 

Palatinate, from the fact that Louis claimed the Palatinate 
— Louis was absolutely without a friend. 

This third war (1688-97) is, for the general student, The War of 
thoroughly unmemorable. Battles were fought on land ^ ^^8- 
and on sea, but no one winning a decisive success, all the 97. 
combatants from mere exhaustion were glad to sign, on the 
basis of mutual restitutions, the Peace of Ryswick (1697). 

The War of the Palatinate was the first war by which The Span- 
Louis had gained nothing. The fact should have served inherit- 
him as a warning that the tide had turned. And perhaps 
he would not have been so utterly scornful of the hostility 
of Europe if there had not opened up to him at this time 
a peculiarly tempting prospect. The king of Spain, 
Charles IL, had no heir, and at his death, which might 
occur at any time, the vast Spanish dominion — Spain and 
her colonies, Naples and Milan, the Spanish Netherlands 
— would fall no one knew to whom. The Austrian branch 
of Hapsburg had, of course, a claim, but Louis fancied 
that his children had a better title still in right of his first 
wife, who was the oldest sister of the Spanish king. The 
matter was so involved legally that it is impossible to 
say to this day where the better right lay. 

Anticipating a struggle with Europe over the coming 
inheritance, Louis entered into negotiation with his chief 
adversary, William IIL of England, long before the death 
of Charles IL had made the inheritance a burning ques- 
tion. A partition treaty was accordingly agreed on by Louis signs 
the two leading powers of Europe, as the most plausible f'"'^ rejects 
settlement of the impending difficulties. But when, on tion treaty, 
the death of Charles IL, November, 1700, it was found 
that the Spanish king had made a will in favor of Philip, 
the duke of Anjou, one of Louis's younger grandsons, 
Louis threw the partition treaty to the winds. He sent 
Philip to Madrid to assume the rule of the undivided do- 



428 



The Modern Period 



The Grand 
Alliance. 



The com- 
batants 
compared. 



The war of 
the Spanish 
succession 
is a world 
struggle. 



minion of Spain. The House of Bourbon now ruled the 
whole European west. " There are no longer any Py- 
renees," were Louis's exultant words. 

It was some time before Europe recovered from the 
shock of its surprise over this bold step, and nerved itself 
to a resistance. William, of course, was indefatigable in 
arousing the Dutch and English, and at last, in 1701, he 
succeeded in creating the so-called Grand Alliance, com- 
posed of the emperor, England, the Dutch, and the lead- 
ing German princes. Before the war had fairly begun, 
however, William, the stubborn, life-long enemy of Louis, 
had died (March, 1702). In the war which broke out, 
called the war of the Spanish Succession, 1702-14, his 
spirit is to be accounted none the less a potent combatant. 

In the new war the position of Louis was more favorable 
than it had been in the preceding war. He commanded 
the resources not only of France but also of Spain ; his 
soldiers still had the reputation of being invincible ; and 
his armies had the advantage of being under his single di- 
rection. The allies, on the other hand, were necessarily 
divided by conflicting interests. What advantages they 
had lay in these two circumstances, which in the end 
proved decisive : the allies possessed greater resources of 
money and men, and they developed in the English duke 
of Marlborough and in the Austrian prince Eugene two 
eminent commanders. Equally gifted, they planned their 
campaigns in common, with sole reference to the good of 
the cause, and they shared the honors of victory without 
the jealousy which often stains brilliant names. 

Not even the Thirty Years' War assumed such propor- 
tions as the struggle in which Europe now engaged. It * 
was literally universal, and raged, at one and the same time, 
at all the exposed points of the French-Spanish possessions. 
The details of this gigantic struggle have no place here. 



Ascendancy of France under Louis XIV. 429 

We must content ourselves with noting the striking mihtary 
actions and the final settlement. 

The first great battle of the war occurred in 1704, at The victo- 
Blenheim, near the upper Danube. The battle of Blenheim "fne and"' 
was the result of a bold strategical move of Marlborough, Marl- 
straight across western Germany, in order to save Vienna °^°"S • 
from a well-planned attack of the French. Together with 
Eugene, Marlborough captured or cut to pieces the French 
army. In 1706 Marlborough won a splendid victory at 
Ramillies, in the Netherlands, and in the same year Eugene 
defeated the French at Turin and drove them out of Italy. 
These signal successes were followed in the year 1708 and 
1709 by the great victories of Oudenarde and Malplaquet. 
Oudenarde and Malplaquet left France prostrate, and 
seemed to open up the road to Paris. 

The road to Paris, however, owing to a number of un- A Tory min- 
expected occurrences, which utterly changed the face of ^ J ^/j5' 
European politics, was never taken. In 1710 the Whig Whigs. 
ministry in England, which had supported Marlborough 
and advocated the war, was overthrown, and a Tory min- 
istry, in favor of peace at any price, succeeded. Thus from 
1 7 ID on, Marlborough's actions in the field were paralyzed. 
The next year was marked by still another calamity. 

In 171 1 the Emperor Joseph died, and was succeeded by The death 
his brother, Charles VI. As Charles was also the candidate 10^"^*^'^°'^ 
of the Grand Alliance for the Spanish throne, the death of 
Joseph held out the prospect of the renewal of the vast em- 
pire of Charles V. Such a development did not lie in the 
interests of England and the Dutch, and these two nations 
now began to withdraw from the grand alliance and urge 
a settlement with the French. Louis, who was utterly ex- 
hausted and broken by defeat, met them more than half 
way. In 17 13, the peace of Utrecht ended the war of the 
Spanish succession. 



430 



The Modern Period 



The peace 
of Utrecht, 
1713- 



Louis's 
death. 



Brilliancy 
of French 
civilization. 



By the peace of Utrecht the Spanish dominions were 
divided, everybody managing to get some share in the 
booty. First, PhiHp V., Louis's grandson, was recognized 
as king of Spain and her colonies, on condition that P^rance 
and Spain would remain forever separated. Next the em- 
peror was provided for ; he received the bulk of the Italian 
po-ssessions (Milan and Naples), together with the Spanish 
Netherlands (henceforth Austrian Netherlands). The 
Dutch were appeased with a number of border fortresses in 
the Austrian Netherlands, as a barrier against France; and 
England took some of the French possessions in the New 
World, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia (Acadia) and the Hud- 
son Bay Territory, together with the Spanish rock of Gib- 
raltar, which gave her the command of the Mediterranean 
Sea. The ambitious and dissatisfied emperor refused, at 
first, to accept this peace, but he was forced to give way and 
confirm its leading arrangements by the peace of Rastadt 

(1714)- 

Shortly after the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt, Louis 

XIV. died (September, 1715). The material prosperity 
that he and Colbert had created in his early years had 
vanished, and he left a debt-burdened country and a fam- 
ished population. His disastrous end was a merited pen- 
alty for a foolish ambition. But to his contemporaries he 
remained to the day of his death, the grand monarque ; and 
that title is a good summary of him as he appears in history, 
for it conveys the impression of a showy splendor which is 
not without the suspicion of hollowness. 

The brilliancy which Louis's long reign lent France cast 
a spell upon the rest of the world. Louis's court, which 
he established at Versailles, became the model court of 
Europe, and French civilization was mimicked all the way 
from London to Moscow. A number of great dramatists, 
Corncille (died 1684), Racine (died 1699), and Moliere 



Rise of Russia under Peter tJie Great 431 

(died 1673) added literary distinction to Louis's reign, 
and altogether we cannot fail to recognize that the age of 
the grant/ monan/ue possessed beneath the artificial polish, 
genuine dignity and intellectual power. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Louis XIV. and the Huguenots. Kitchin, Vol. III., Bk. V., Chaps. III. 

and IV. Perkins, France Under the Regency. $2.50. See Chap, 
VI. Houghton. 

2. The Society and the Court of France at the Time of Louis XIV, 

Hassall, Louis .\l\'. Guizot, History 0/ France, 8 vols. Vol. IV., 
Chaps. XLVIII. and XLIX. Lovell. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE RISE OF RUSSIA UNDER PETER THE GREAT (1689- 
1725) AND CATHARINE THE GREAT ( 1 762-96) ; THE 
DECAY OF SWEDEN 

LITERATURE.— Wakeman (as before), pp. 297-308. 

W^L^^sW, Europe, IT I s-iySg. $1.75. Chaps. V., XI., XIII. Macmillan. 
Rambaud, History of Russia, 3 vols. $6.00. Dana Estes. 
Morfill, Russia. (Nations.) $1.00. Putnam. 

Attention has been called in an earlier section to the The early 
unification of the Russians under the dynasty of Rurik ; to 0^*°^^ 
their Christianization by Greek missionaries ; to the Mon- 
gol invasions ; and to the liberation of the people under 
Ivan III., known as the Great (1480). Ivan IV. (1533- 
84), known as the Terrible, added to these triumphs. By 
the conquest of Astrachan from the Tartars, he pushed the 
Russian boundary southward to the Caspian Sea. 

The House of Rurik came to an end in 1598, and for The House 
the next ten years Russia was in a condition of anarchy, ° Komano . 
the whole state seeming on the verge of falling a prey to its 
jealous western neighbors, Sweden and Poland. In 16 13 



432 The Modern Period 

the national party, however, succeeded in putting one of 
its own number, Michael Romanoff, ui)on the throne, and 
under the House of tliis prince the state rapidly revived. In 
a very few decades, the Romanoffs had not only banished 
the Polish and Swedish influence, but had also acquired 
the vast territory of Siberia. 
The access- But the Romanoffs came to particular honor in the per- 
1682 ' son of Peter, who succeeded to the throne, together with 

his older brother Ivan, in the year 1682. As the new 
Czars were, at that time, still boys, and Ivan little better 
than an imbecile, the government was exercised for some 
time by an older sister, Sophia, in the capacity of regent. 
However, in 1689, Peter, who had then attained his seven- 
teenth year, resolved to take matters into his own hands, 
summarily declared the regency at an end, and sent Sophia 
to a nunnery. As the sickly Ivan (d. 1696) was harm- 
less, Peter generously allowed him to play the part of a 
co-ruler for the few more years that he lived. 
The three In order to understand Peter's programme, it is neces- 

of Peter's ^^^y ^^ review the chief elements of the political and intel- 
life. lectual position of Russia at the time of his accession. In 

the second half of the seventeenth century the Russians 
were still in life and manners an Asiatic people, who were 
connected with European culture by but a single bond — 
their Christian faith. Their political situation seemed, at 
first sight, more hopeful. But in spite of the vast area of 
the state, which included the eastern plain of Europe and 
the whole north of Asia, Russia was so cooped in on the 
west and south by a ring of great powers, Persia, Turkey, 
Poland, and Sweden, that she was practically an inland 
state. Finally, it is necessary to understand the Russian 
constitution. The Czar was the absolute master, but there 
existed two checks upon his power — the patriarch, the 
head of the Church, who exercised great influence in re- 



Rise of Russia under Peter the Great 433 

ligious matters, and the Streltsi, the Czar's body-guard, 
who, because they were a privileged force, felt inclined to 
regard themselves superior to their master. This whole 
composite situation Peter soon seized with a statesmanlike 
grasp, and admirably moulded it, through the efforts of a 
long rule, to his own purposes. He set himself in the 
main, three aims, and met in all a degree of success which 
is fairly astonishing. These aims were the following : 
He resolved to make the culture connection between 
Russia and Europe strong and intimate ; he labored to 
open a way to the west by gaining a hold on the Black 
and on the Baltic seas ; and, lastly, he planned to rid him- 
self of the restraint put upon his authority by the patriarch 
and the Streltsi. 

Peter is a difficult person for a modern man to under- 
stand. One aspect presents him as a murderer, another as 
a monster of sensuality, and still another as a hero. We Peter's 
have the key to his character when we remember that he character. 
was a barbarian of genius — never anything more. With 
barbarian eagerness he assimilated every influence that he 
encountered, good and evil alike, and surrendered himself, 
for the time being, to its sway with all his might. Cer- 
tainly, his distinguishing characteristic was an indomitable 
energy : Peter's life burnt at a white heat. 

Peter's first chance to distinguish himself came in the Peter's first 
year 1695. The emperor was at that time waging war conquest: 
against the Turks, who were beginning to show the first 
symptoms of collapse. Seeing his opportunity, Peter re- 
solved to make use of the fortunate embarrassment of the 
Turks to acquire a .southern outlet for Russia. In 1696 he 
conquered the port of Azov. The future now opened 
more confidently to him, and before taking another step 
he determined to visit the West and study the wonders of 
its civilization with his own eyes. 



434 



The Modern Period 



Peter's 
journey of 
instruction. 



The Streltsi 
disbanded. 



The Church 
made de- 
pendant on 
the Czar. 



Peter spent the year 1697-98 in travel through Germany, 
Holland, and England. The journey was meant purely 
as a voyage of instruction. Throughout its course Peter 
was indefatigable in his efforts to get at the bottom of 
things, at the methods of western government, at the 
sources of western wealth, at the systems of western 
trade and manufacture. At Zaandam, in Holland, he 
hired out for a time as a common ship-carpenter, and every- 
where he attended surgical lectures, visited paper-mills, 
flour-mills, printing presses, in short, was untiring in his 
efforts to assimilate, not a part, but the whole of western 
civilization. 

The opportunity for putting the results of his trip to the 
test of practice came sooner than Peter expected. At 
Vienna he heard that the Streltsi had revolted. He set 
out post-haste for home, established order, and then took 
a fearful vengeance, executing over a thousand of the 
luckless guards with terrible tortures. Rumor reports 
that Peter in his savage fury himself played the headsman. 
Sovereign and executioner — this combination of offices 
filled by Peter, clearly exhibits the chasm that then yawned 
between Europe and Russia. But no one will deny that 
there was method in Peter's madness. The Streltsi had 
been a constant centre of disaffection, and were now re- 
placed by a regular army, organized on the European 
pattern and dependent on the Czar. 

Peter's reforms now crowded thick and fast. Everything 
foreign was fostered at the expense of everything national. 
Thus he introduced western dress and opposed the Russian 
custom of wearing long beards. But the clergy especially 
became increasingly suspicious of Peter's policy. As the 
discontent of the clergy was a danger to the throne and a 
hindrance to reforms, the Czar resolved to make that order 
more dependent on himself. When the patriarch died in 



Rise of Russia under Peter the Great 435 

1700, Peter committed the functions of the primate to a 
synod which he himself appointed and controlled, and thus 
the Czar became the head of the Church as he already was 
the head of the state. 

To enumerate more than a part of Peter's activities in His civiliz- 
behalf of his state is quite impossible. He built roads and ^ 
canals ; he encouraged commerce and industry ; and he 
erected common schools. The fruits of these vast civiliz- 
ing labors ripened of course slowly, and Peter did not live 
to gather them. But his efforts at making himself strong 
through a navy and army, and at extending his territory to 
the sea, were crowned with a number of brilliant and almost 
immediate successes. 

After his return from the west, Peter was more desirous Peter turns 

than ever of gaining a hold on the Baltic. Azov, on the R*a,ltic 

Black Sea, was worth little to him as long as the Turks 

held the Dardanelles. The west, it was clear, could be 

best gained by the northern route. But the enterprise was 

far from easy. The Baltic coast was largely held by 

Sweden, and Sweden, the first power of the north, was 

prepared to resist any attempt to displace her with all her 

energy. 

The rise of Sweden to the position of the first power of The great- 

n6ss of 
the north, dates from the time of Gustavus Adolphus (161 1- Sweden, 

32). Gustavus extended his rule over almost the whole 

of the northern and eastern shore of the Baltic, and by 

his interference in the Thirty Years' War, his daughter 

Christina, who succeeded him, acquired, as her share in the 

German booty, western Pommerania and the land at the 

mouth of the Weser and the Elbe (1648). Sweden was 

now for a short time the rival of France for the first honors 

in Europe. Unfortunately, her power rested solely on her 

military organization, not on her people and her resources, 

and, as experience proves, no purely military state is likely 



436 



The Modern Period 



The league 
of Denmark, 
Poland, and 
Russia, 
1700. 



CharlesXII. 
of Sweden. 



The marvel- 
lous cam- 
paign of 
1700. 



to live long. But as the Swedish rulers of the seventeenth 
century were capable men, especially in war, they succeeded 
in maintaining the supremacy which Gustavus had won. 
However, they injured and antagonized so many neighbors 
that it was only a question of time when these neighbors 
would combine against the common foe. Denmark to 
the west, Brandenburg-Prussia to the south, Poland and 
Russia to the east, had all paid for Sweden's exaltation 
with severe losses, and nursed a deep grudge against her in 
patience and silence. The long awaited opportunity for 
revenge seemed at length to have arrived, when in the year 
1697, Charles XII., a boy of fifteen, came to the throne. 
His youth and inexperience appeared to mark him as an 
easy victim. Therefore, Denmark, Poland, and Russia 
now formed a league against him to recover their lost ter- 
ritories (1700). 

The allies had, however, made their reckoning without 
the host. Charles XII. turned out, in spite of his youth, 
to be the most warlike member of a warlike race — a i)erfect 
fighting demon. But beyond his military qualities he 
lacked almost every virtue of a ruler. He was Don 
Quixote promoted to a throne, and though he could 
fight with admirable fiiry against windmills, he could not 
govern and he could not build. 

Before the coalition was ready to strike, young Charles 
gathered his troojjs and fell upon the enemy. As the forces 
of Denmark, Poland, and Russia were necessarily widely 
separated, he calculated that if he could meet them in turn, 
the likelihood of victory would be much increased. He 
laid his plans accordingly. In the spring of 1700, he 
suddenly crossed from Sweden to the island of Seeland, 
besieged Copenhagen, and obliged the king of Denmark 
to make peace. The ink of this treaty was hardly dry be- 
fore Charles was off again like a flash. This time he sailed 



Rise of Russia under Peter the Great 437 

to the Gulf of Finland, where Peter was besieging Narva. Victory of 
Peter had with him at Narva some 50,000 men, while 
Charles was at the head of only 8,000 ; but Charles, never- 
theless, ordered the attack, and his well-disciplined Swedes 
soon swept the confused masses of the ill-trained Russians 
off the field like chaff. The Russians now fell back into 
the interior, and Charles was free to turn upon his last and 
most hated enemy, August the Strong, king of Poland. 
Before another year had passed, Charles had defeated Au- 
gust as roundly as the sovereigns of Denmark and Russia. 

Thus far the war had been managed admirably ; Charles 
might have made his conditions and gone home. But ob- Charles's 
stinate as he was, he preferred to have revenge on August, "Mistake, 
whom he regarded as the instigator of the alliance, and 
resolved not to give up until he had fore-id his adversary to 
resign the Polish crown, and had appointed as successor a 
personal adherent. 

Poland was at this time in a condition hardly better than Anarchy in 
anarchy. The nobles held all the power and were sover- ° ^" ' 
eign on their own lands. The only remaining witnesses of 
a previous unity were a Diet, which never transacted any 
business, and an elected king, who was allowed no power 
and had nothing to do. In the year 1697, the Poles 
had even elected to the kingship a foreigner, August the 
Strong, elector of Saxony. Now when inthe year 1701 King 
August was defeated by Charles, the majority of the Poles 
were glad rather than sorry, for August had engaged in the 
war without asking the consent of the Polish Diet; but 
when Charles insisted on forcing a monarch of his own 
choosing on the Poles, a national party naturally gathered 
around August, who, although a foreigner, was, neverthe- 
less the rightful king. 

For many years following the brilliant campaign of 1700 Charles in 
Charles hunted August over the marshy and wooded plains Poland. 



438 



The Modern Period 



The prog- 
ress of 
Peter. 



Pultava, 
1709. 



Russia 
takes the 
place of 
Sweden. 



of Poland, and though always victorious, he could never 
quite succeed in utterly crushing his enemy. Even his 
taking Warsaw and crowning his dependent, Stanislaus 
Lesczinski, king, did not change the situation. Finally, 
in 1706, Charles decided on a radical measure. He sud- 
denly invaded Saxony, to which August had withdrawn, 
and there wrung a treaty from August, in which that mon- 
arch acknowledged his rival, Stanislaus, king of Poland. Of 
course, a peace signed under such conditions was illusory. 
In fact, August broke it as soon as an opportunity offered. 

But the peace with August at length set Charles free to 
act against the Russians. Too much time had been lost 
already, for since Peter's defeat at Narva, great things had 
happened. The Czar had indeed fallen back, but he was 
resolutely determined to try again, and while Charles was, 
during six long years, pursuing spectres in Poland, Peter 
carefully reorganized his troops, and conquered half the 
Swedish provinces on the Baltic. In 1703 he founded on 
the newly acquired territory the city of St. Petersburg, 
destined to become the modern capital of Russia. 

Charles, immediately after having made his peace with 
August, resolved on a decisive stroke against the Russians. 
He marched (1708) for the old capital, Moscow, but was 
overcome by the hardships of the march and the rigors of 
the climate before he met the enemy. When Peter came 
u]) with him at Pultava (1709), the Swedes fought with 
their accustomed bravery, but their sufferings had worn 
them out. And now, Narva was avenged. The Swedish 
army was literally destroyed, and Charles, accompanied by 
a few hundred horsemen, barely succeeded in making his 
escape to Turkey. The verdict of Pultava was destined to 
be final. Sweden stepped down from her position as a 
great power into obscurity, and a new power, Russia, ruled 
henceforth in the north. 



Rise of Russia under Peter the Great 439 

Charles remained in Turkey for five years, obstinately Charles in 
set on involving the Turks in a war on his behalf. When ^^' 

he returned (17 14) to his native country, the Swedish des- 
tiny was already fulfilled, for the surrounding powers had 
taken advantage of the king's long absence to help them- 
selves to whatever part of Sweden they coveted. Charles 
met them, indeed, with his accustomed valor, but his 
country was exhausted, and his people ahenated. In i 718, The death 
while besieging Frederikshald in Norway, he was killed in of C^s^rles, 
the trenches. His sister, Ulrica Eleanor, who succeeded 
him, was compelled by the aristocratic party to agree to a 
serious limitation of the royal prerogative. Then the tired 
Swedes hastened to sign a peace with their enemies. Den- 
mark agreed to the principle of mutual restitutions ; the 
German states of Hanover and Brandenburg acquired pay- The Rus- 
ments out of the Swedish provinces in Germany; August sianacquisi- 
the Strong received recognition as king of Poland ; but 
Peter, who had contributed the most to the defeat of 
Charles, got too, by the Treaty of Nystadt (1721), the 
lion's share of the booty : Carelia, Ingria, Esthonia, and 
Livonia, in fact, all the Swedish possessions of the eastern 
Baltic except Finland. 

Peter was now nearing the end of his reign. His rule The execu- 
had brought Russia a new splendor, but he was not spared V?" ■ 
defeat and chagrin. For one thing his efforts in behalf of 
Russian civilization were not appreciated. The extreme 
nationalists among the Russians objecting to being lifted 
out of their barbarism, soon fixed their hopes upon Peter's 
son and heir, Alexis, and Alexis, for his part, shunned no 
trouble to exhibit his sympathy with a reactionary policy. 
With a heavy heart Peter had to face the possibility of a 
successor who would undo his cherished life-work. For 
years he took pains to win Alexis over to his views, but 
when his efforts proved without avail, he resolved, for the 



440 



The Modern Period 



Catharine 
II., 1762-96. 



Catharine 
plans to 
destroy Po- 
land and 
Turkey. 



sake of the state, to strike his son down. The resohition 
we may praise ; the method was terrible. The Czarowitz 
was tortured in prison until he died (1718), and the prob- 
ability is that the father presided in person at the execution 
of the son. 

When Peter died (1725), it seemed for a time as if 
Russia would return to her former Asiatic condition. The 
government fell into the hands of a succession of dissolute, 
incompetent Czarinas, who had few interests in life beyond 
their own pleasures. Out of this sorry plight the country 
was drawn by the accession of a remarkable woman, who 
had enough good sense to accept the traditions of Peter's 
reign, and enough power to continue them. This was 
Catharine II., the wife of Peter III. Catharine, by birth 
a petty princess of Germany, had married Peter III. when 
he was heir-apparent. She was not only intelligent and 
energetic, but also wholly unscrupulous, and shortly after 
Peter III., who was crotchety and half insane, had as- 
cended the throne (1762), she had him strangled by two 
of lier favorites. Although she thus acquired the supreme 
power by means of a crime, once in possession of it, she 
wielded it with consummate skill. Being of western birth, 
she naturally favored western civilization. Peter the Great 
himself had not been more anxious to found schools, and 
create industries and a commerce. More important still, 
she took up Peter's idea of expansion toward the west. 

With Sweden annihilated by Peter, the only other 
European powers which pressed npon Russia, were Poland 
and Turkey. Catharine gave her life to the abasement of 
these two European neighbors, and before she died she had 
succeeded in destroying Poland and in bringing Turkey to 
her feet. 

The hopeless anarchy of Poland had been brought home 
to everyone in Europe, when Charles XII. of Sweden sue- 



Rise of Rtissia under Peter the Great 441 

ceeded in holding the country for a number of years with Polish 

a mere handful of troops (i 702-1 707). The weakness of ^"f ^hy. 

^ « / y j_i(,erum veto. 

the country was due to the selfish nobles and their impos- 
sible constitution. To realize the ludicrous unfitness of 
this instrument, one need only recall the famous provision 
called liberiun veto, which conferred on every noble the 
right to forbid by his single veto the adoption by the Diet 
of a measure distasteful to himself. By liberum veto one 
man could absolutely stop the machinery of government. 
Under these circumstances Poland fell a prey to internal 
conflicts, and soon to ambitious foreign neighbors. 

It is useless to investigate what one person or power is Russia, 

responsible for the idea of the partition of Poland. The P^'^ssia, and 
• 1 -1 1 1 I Austria 

idea was in the air, and the three powers which bordered equally 

on Poland and benefited from the partition — Russia, Aus- responsible 
. ^ 'for the par- 

tria, and Prussia, governed at the time by Catharine, Maria tition. 

Theresa, and Frederick — must share the odium of the act 

among them. 

Diplomatically considered, the First Partition of Poland The First 

was a triumph for Frederick the Great ; for Catharine was Partition, 

1772. 
counting on pocketing the whole booty, when Frederick 

stepped in, and by associating Austria with himself forced 
the Czarina to divide with her neighbors. The First Par- 
tition belonging to the year 1772 did not destroy Poland. 
It simply peeled off slices for the lucky highwaymen : the 
land beyond the Dwina went to Russia, Galicia to Austria, 
and the Province of West Prussia to Prussia. But the 
precedent of interference had been once established, and a 
few years later the fate of Poland was sealed by a Second The Second 

and a Third Partition (1793 and i7qO. Poland ceased S.^'^^T^^'"'^ 

^ '^-^ '^->^ Partitions, 

to exist as a state, when her last army, gallantly led by 1793, 1795. 
Kosciusko, went down before the Russians ; but as a peo- 
ple, she exists to this day, and stubbornly nurses in her 
heart the hope of a resurrection. 



442 



The Modern Period 



Catharine's 
successes 
over the 
Turks. 



Her signal success over the Poles excited Catharine to 
increased efforts against the Turks. In two wars (first war, 
176S-74 ; second war, 1787-92), she succeeded in utterly 
defeating the Turks, and in extending her territory along 
the Black Sea to the Dniester. It was a fair acquisition, 
but it did not satisfy her ambitious nature. She left the 
dream of Constantinople as a heritage to her successors, 
who have cherished it tenderly, and during the hundred 
years since her death have struggled patiently to push their 
frontiers to the Bosi)orus. 

Catharine left Russia at her death (1796) the greatest 
power of the north. Her life, like that of Peter, is stained 
with crime and immorality, but these two have the honor 
of having lifted Russia almost without aid, and often in 
spite of herself, to her present eminent position. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

The Civilizing Labors of Petek the Great. 'Wakeman, pp. 301-304. 

Morfill, Ch. VII. Rambaud, History oj Russia, Vol. II., Chap III. 
The First P..\ktition' <if Pol.\nd. Carlyle, Frederick the Great. Book 

XXL.Ch. IV. Rambaud, /i«j«Vi, Vol. XL, Chap. IX. Perkins, ./^rawc 

under Louis XV. Vol. II., Chap. XXI. 



The Rise of Prussia 443 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND 
EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES 

LITERATURE.— Wakeman (as before), Chapters VIII. and XIII. 
Hassall (as before), Chs. V.-IX. ; XI. 

l^ongm&n, Frederick tke Great. (Epochs.) $1.00. Scribner. 
TuXXXe, History 0/ Prussia, ^ -vols. $8.25. Houghton. 
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. 8 vols. $10.00. Scribner. 

The cradle of the modern kingdom of Prussia is the mark The history 
of Brandenburg. Concerning the mark we have been told k„j./^" ^"" 
in the mediaeval section how it became an electorate, and 
how it pas.sed into the hands of the House of Hohenzol- 
lern. Since the mediaeval period two further events had 
occurred which contributed to prepare the Brandenburg 
state for the role which it was destined to play. The 
elector of Brandenburg and his people, had, at the time 
of Luther, become Protestant, and in the early seventeenth 
century the elector had fallen heir to considerable terri- 
tories in the extreme west and in the extreme east of Ger- 
many — Cleves in the Rhine country, and the duchy of 
Prussia. 

The duchy of Prussia thus joined to the Brandenburg The history 
possessions had an interesting history. To understand it °f Prussia ^ 
we must go back to the Middle Age, when the term Prussia 
was applied rather vaguely to all the land which lay along 
the eastern Baltic and was inhabited by a heathen and 
Slav tribe called Prussians. This territory had been con- 
quered in the thirteenth century by the military order of 
the Teutonic Knights, who had ruled and Christianized it, 
but were them.selves conquered in the fifteenth century by 
the king of Poland. The king of Poland thereupon made 



444 ^/^^ Modern Period 

the following arrangement : he incorporated the western 
half of Prussia with his own dominions, and gave back the 
eastern half to the Knights upon the condition that they 
hold it as a fief of his crown. East Prussia thus became a 
feudal dependency of Poland, and its status was not changed 
when at the time of Luther the Knights became Protestant, 
the order was broken up, and the then grand master, Albert, 
a younger member of the House Hohenzollern, assumed 
the title of duke (1525). The line of this Albert having 
failed in 1618, the duchy of Prussia, or more exactly of 
East Prussia, fell to his relative of Brandenburg. 

The Great Still Brandenburg, thus enlarged by East Prussia and 

6-88 Cleves, played no role in Germany or Europe until the 

accession in 1640 of Frederick William, known as the Great 
Elector. At the time of his accession, the Thirty Years' 
War was raging, and Brandenburg had been reduced to 
the greatest misery. But Frederick William, although 
only twenty years old, displayed an admirable energy, 
made peace all round, and when the great Treaty of West- 
phalia was signed (1648), received valuable additions of 
territory — namely, a number of secularized bishoprics 
(Halberstadt, Magdeburg, Camin, Minden) and the eastern 
half of Pomerania. Brandenburg had a valid claim to 
all of Pomerania, but the claim could not be made good, 
as a great power, Sweden, took the western and better half 
of Pomerania for herself. 

The domes- Now the domestic situation of Frederick William was, 
ic pro . ^^ i^jg accession, as follows : he found himself at the head of 
three separate territorial groups — the Brandenburg territory, 
the Cleves territory, and the Prussian territory — and each 
group was organized as a separate little state with its own 
Diet, its own army, and its own administration. Fred- 
erick William wisely resolved to replace this diversity by 
uniformity. He therefore dismissed the Diets and made 



The Rise of Prussia 445 

himself absolute ; he united the three local armies under 
a single national organization ; and he merged the three 
separate administrations into one. He thus amalgamated 
his three territories, and to all intents and purposes created 
a united monarchy of which he was as completely master 
as Louis XIV. was of France. 

Frederick William was also a man with territorial aspira- Frederick 
tions. In order to be ready when the chance came he ^^re^Ea^t" 
tirelessly increased and perfected his army. And the chance Prussia in 
did come, for in 1655 there broke out a war between Po- e'ig-nty^^''' 
land and Sweden. In this war the Great Elector put him- 
self forward so successfully, that, after a great deal of skil- 
ful and unscrupulous manoeuvring, he wrung from the king 
of Poland a treaty, by which that monarch renounced the 
suzerainty over East Prussia, and gave the duchy to Fred- 
erick William in full sovereignty. This was his greatest 
political triumph. 

A much greater military triumph he won a few years He defeats 
later. In 1672, Louis XIV. fell upon Holland, and Fred- 
erick William, together with the emperor, marched to the 
assistance of the hard-pressed Republic. In order to draw 
the elector back from the Rhine, Louis now persuaded the 
Swedes, his only ally, to invade Brandenburg. The elec- 
tor thereupon hastened homeward at his best speed, and 
succeeded in surprising and utterly defeating the Swedes 
at Fehrbellin (June, 1675). The military reputation of 
Brandenburg was henceforth established, and in the course 
of the next few years the elector clinched matters by 
driving the Swedes completely out of Pomerania. But 
when the general European war came to an end, by the 
Treaty of Nimwegen (1678), Frederick William was not 
allowed to keep his conquest. Louis XIV. stood faithfully 
by his ally, Sweden, and insisted that she should not pay 
for her help to him by territorial sacrifices. With a sore 



the Swedes, 



446 



The Modern Period 



The elector 
becomes 
king in 
Prussia, 
1701. 



Frederick 
William I., 
the great in- 
ternal king, 
1713-40. 



heart, Frederick William had to give way, and in a treaty, 
signed near Paris, at St. Gerraain-en-Laye (1679), he re- 
gretfully restored to the Swedes what he had won. 

The Great Elector died in the year 1688 and was suc- 
ceeded by his son Frederick, a person of an altogether dif- 
ferent type. Having been weak and deformed from his 
birth and incapable of hard work, he had learned to care 
very much more about the pleasures of the court than 
about the duties of his office. His reign is memorable for 
one fact only : he won for the elector of Brandenburg 
the new title of king in Prussia. The title was granted by 
the emperor Leopold, in order to secure Frederick's al- 
liance in the War of the Spanish Succession which was 
just breaking out. On January 18, 1701, the coronation 
of Frederick took place at Konigsberg, the capital of East 
Prussia, and henceforth the Elector Frederick HI. of Bran- 
denburg was known by his higher title of King Frederick 
I. The title, king in Prussia,^ was adopted in preference 
to that of king of Brandenburg, because Frederick wished 
to be king in full independence, and that was possible only 
in Prussia, as Prussia was not a part of the empire. The 
name Prussia was henceforth used as a common designa- 
tion for all the Hohenzollern states, and gradually sup- 
planted the use of the older designation, Brandenburg. 

Frederick's successor, King Frederick William I. (1713- 
40), is a curious reversion to an older type. He was the 
Great Elector over again, with all his practical good sense, 
but without his genius for diplomatic business and his polit- 
ical ambition. He gave all his time and his attention to 
the army and the administration. By close thrift he man- 
aged to maintain some 80,000 troops, which almost 



' The form of the title, king in Prussia, was clue to the fact that all of 
Prussia did not belong to the Hohenzollern ; Poland still held the western 
half, and might reasonably have objected to the title, king ^/Prussia. 



The Rise of Prussia 447 

brought his army up to the standing armies of such states 

as France and Austria. And excellent troops they were, 

for an iron discipline moulded them into the most precise 

military engine then to be found in Europe. In his civil 

government he continued the work, begun by the Great 

Elector, of centralizing the various departments. A 

"General Directory" took complete control of finances Creation of 

and administration, and its severe demands gradually called .^ bureau- 

into being the famous Prussian bureaucracy, which in spite cracy. 

of its inevitable "red tape," is notable to this day for its 

effectiveness and its devotion to duty. Certain it is that 

no contemporary government had so modern and so thrifty 

an administration as that of Frederick William. 

For these creations of an efficient army and a unified Frederick 
civil service, both of which were made to depend directly ' "^i" ^ 
and solely upon the crown, and for a healthy financial sys- 
tem, which yielded that rare blessing, an annual surplus, 
Frederick William I. deserves to be called Prussia's greatest 
internal king. But he did not contribute much to the 
territorial growth of Prussia, owing largely to his distrust 
in his power to handle international affairs. However, he 
was successful enough in the one war which he undertook. 
That was a war against Sweden in the period of Sweden's 
abasement after the defeat of Pultava. As all of the 
Swedish neighbors, Russia, Denmark, and Poland were 
helping themselves to Swedish territories, Frederick Will- 
iam did not see why Prussia should be left out, and in one He acquires 
rapid campaign conquered Swedish Pomerania. In a 
peace signed (1720) after Charles XII. 's death, he declared 
himself satisfied with the territory about Stettin, which 
furnished Prussia a needed port upon the Baltic. 

Sturdy and hard-working as Frederick William was, he 
was also vulgar and crotchety. For example : his ideal of 
the king was the patriarch, and he was constantly prying 



448 



The Modern Period 



Clash 
between 
father 
and son. 



Frederick's 

accession, 

1740. 



The death 
of Charles 
VI., 1740. 



into people's private affairs and making their lives a burden. 
His own family he treated in the same tyrannical way, 
with results that were not always pleasant. Once he even 
brought matters to the verge of a great tragedy. That 
was when his son and heir, Frederick, known afterward as 
the Great, resolved to withdraw himself from his fatlier's 
contemptuous treatment of him by flight into foreign 
parts. Unluckily for the young prince the plan failed, 
and the old king, lashed into a white heat, seemed at first to 
be bent on taking his son's life. Even after he had been 
moved to take better counsel, he was still resolved on 
punishment, and put the crown prince through such an 
apprenticeship in the civil and military administrations 
from the lowest grades upward, as perhaps no other royal 
personage has ever received. The discipline doubtless 
awakened resentment in Frederick, the gay prince ; but 
Frederick, the serious-minded king, was enabled thereby 
to know every branch of his vast administration like a 
thumbed book. 

In the year 1740 Frederick II., who had now reached 
the age of twenty-eight, succeeded his father. As he had 
spent the last years of his father's life in retirement, giving 
himself up to the pursuit of art and literature, everything 
else was expected of him, when he ascended the throne, 
rather than military designs and political ambition. But 
an unexpected opportunity immediately plunged him into 
great undertakings. 

A few months after Frederick's accession in October, 
1740, the Em])eror Charles VI., the last male of the line 
of Hapsburg, died. Long before his death, foreseeing the 
troubles of Austria, he had by a law, which received the 
name of the Pragmatic Sanction, appointed his oldest 
daughter, Maria Theresa, his sole heir, and throughout his 
whole life he bestirred himself to extract from the European 



The Rise of Prussia 449 

powers guarantees of this Pragmatic Sanction. These guar- 
antees having been obtained from all the leading states, 
sometimes at a great sacrifice, he died with composed con- 
science, and the archduchess Maria Theresa prepared im- 
mediately to assume the rule of Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, 
and the other Hapsburg lands. It was at this point that 
Frederick stepped in. His father had guaranteed the 
Pragmatic Sanction, too, but Frederick did not choose 
to consider that circumstance. He thought only of the 
unparalleled opportunity of acquiring fame and position by 
pitting his father's large army, backed by a full treasury, 
against the weakened power of Austria. The fact that his 
House of Hohenzollern possessed some old claims to Silesia, 
a territory held by Austria, served as a pretext, and un- Frederick 
furling his banner, he marched in December, 1740, into 'i'.Y .^^ 
the coveted province. His act was the signal for a general 
rising. Spain, France, Savoy, Bavaria, and Saxony, fol- 
lowing his example, all dished up some kind of claim to 
parts of the Austrian dominions. They sent their armies 
against Maria Theresa, and their greed merely mocked 
at that poor princess's indignant remonstrances. Thus 
hardly was Charles VI. dead, when it was apparent that 
the Pragmatic Sanction was not worth the paper it was 
written on. 

It might have gone hard with Maria Theresa if she had The War 

not found splendid resources of heart and mind in herself, pv"^^? 

^ ' trian buc- 

and if she had not gained the undivided support of the cession. 
many nationalities under her sway. Her enemies were 
descending upon her in two main directions, the French 
and their German allies from the west, by way of the 
Danube, and Frederick of Prussia from the north. Un- 
prepared as she was, her raw levies gave way, at first, at 
every point. On April 10, 1741, at MoUwitz, Frederick 
won a great victory over the Austrians, clinching, by means 



450 



The Modern Period 



End of the 
First Si- 
lesian War, 
1742. 



The Second 
Silesian 
War, 
1744-45- 



of it, his hold upon Silesia. In the same year the French, 
Saxons, and Bavarians invaded Bohemia. 

But at this point Maria Theresa's fortunes rose again, 
owing, in no small measure, to the enthusiasm with 
which she filled her soldiers. The army of the coalition 
was driven out of Bohemia ; Bavaria was in turn invaded 
and occupied. The Prussians, who had likewise entered 
Bohemia, in order to help the French, were hard pressed, 
but saved themselves by a victory at Czaslau (May, 1742). 
Thereupon Maria Theresa, who saw that she could not meet 
so many enemies at one and the same time, declared her 
willingness to come to terms with her most formidable foe. 
In 1742 she signed with Frederick the Peace of Breslau, 
by which she gave up practically the whole province of 
Silesia. What is known in Prussia as the First Silesian 
War had come to an end. 

Maria Theresa now prosecuted the war against her other 
enemies with increased vigor. England and Holland, old 
friends of Austria, joined her, and the war assumed wider 
dimensions. During the next years the French consistently 
fell back ; Maria Theresa conquered Bavaria, overran south 
Germany, and seemed on the point of becoming mistress 
of Germany. Aware that in that case he could not hold 
his new conquest a year, Frederick was moved to strike a 
second blow. In 1744 he began the Second Silesian War, 
in which his calculations were completely successful. He 
first relieved the French and the Bavarians by drawing the 
Austrians upon himself, and then he defeated his enemy 
signally at the battle of Hohenfriedberg (1745). On 
Christmas day, 1745, Maria Theresa bought her peace of 
Frederick by a renewed cession of Silesia (Peace of Dres- 
den). 

For a few more years the general war continued. 
Finally, in 1748, everybody being tired of fighting, the 



The Rise of Prussia 451 

contestants signed the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), End of the 
by which Maria Theresa was universally recognized as the Austrian ^ 
sovereign of Austria. Already as early as 1745, her hus- Succession, 
band, Francis of Lorraine, had been elected emperor, thus ^'^ ' 
confirming to Maria Theresa's family the honor which it 
had so long held. The War of the Austrian Succession 
had come to an end, and, against everybody's prediction, 
the empress's splendid qualities had maintained the Aus- 
trian dominions intact, with the exception of the one sub- 
stantial sacrifice of Silesia. 

When Frederick retired from the Second Silesian War, Prussia a 

the position of Prussia had been revolutionized. The S^eat pow- 

^ er. 

king had received from his father a promising state, but it 

was of no great size, and it enjoyed no authority in Eu- 
rope. Frederick, by adding Silesia to it, gave it for the 
first time a respectable area, but that acquisition alone 
would not have raised Prussia to the level of Austria, 
France, England, or Russia. It was the genius displayed 
by the young king, who stood at the head of Prussia, 
which fell so heavily into the balance, that Prussia was 
henceforth counted among the great powers of Europe. 

Frederick, having thus won his military laurels, settled Frederick's 
down to the much harder work of governing with wisdom P^^*^® '^" 
and elevating his people materially and mentally. The 
ten years of peace which followed the Second Silesian 
War were crowded with vigorous internal labors ; for ex- 
ample, he drained the great swamps along the Oder, pro- 
moted internal traffic by new canals, and established new 
iron, wool, and salt industries. 

All of Frederick's various labors never destroyed in him Frederick 

the light, humanistic vein which marks him from his birth, the philos- 

° ' opher. 

He engaged in literature with as much fervor as if it were 

his life-work, and took constant delight in composing 

music and in playing the flute. What pleased him most, 



452 



The Modern Period 



Voltaire. 



Maria 
Theresa 
nurses plans 
of revenge. 



The diplo- 
matic revo- 
lution of 
1756. 



however, was a circle of spirited friends. He was espe- 
cially well inclined to Frenchmen, because that nation 
represented, to his mind, the highest culture of the Europe 
of his day, and for several years (1750-53) he even en- 
tertained at his court the prince of the eighteenth century 
philosophers, Voltaire. But after a period of sentimental 
attachment, the king and the philosopher quarrelled, and 
Voltaire vanished from Berlin in a cloud of scandal. In 
any case, the momentary conjunction of the two brilliant 
spirits of the eighteenth century — the one its greatest mas- 
ter in the field of action, the other its greatest master of 
thought and expression — has an historical interest. 

All this while Frederick was aware that Maria Theresa 
was not his friend and had not forgotten the deceit of 
which she had been made the victim. In fact she hoped 
to get back Silesia, and for years carefully laid her plans. 
An important preparatory measure seemed both to her 
and to her minister Kaunitz, to be the alliance with 
France. In the eighteenth century an alliance between 
Hapsburg and Bourbon, the century-old enemies, seemed 
ridiculous. The rule in Austria had been the alliance 
with England, and any other arrangement seemed to be 
contrary to the law of nature itself. Kaunitz, however, 
accomplished the miracle of a diplomatic revolution, 
which during the next years turned Europe topsy-turvy. 
His plans were greatly aided by the following circum- 
stance : England and France were making ready, in the 
middle of the century, to contest the empire of the sea. 
Both were looking for continental allies, and as Prussia, 
after holding back a long time, was induced at last to sign 
a convention with England, France was naturally pushed 
into the arms of Prussia's rival, Austria. In the spring of 
1756 this diplomatic revolution was an accomplished fact. 
The two great political questions of the day, the rivalry 



Tlie Rise of Prussia 453 

between England and France, on the one hand, and of 
Prussia and Austria, on the other, were about to be fought 
out in the great Seven Years' War (1756-63), and the 
two northern and Protestant powers of England and Prus- 
sia were to consolidate therein their claims and interests 
against the claims and interests of the Catholic powers, 
France and Austria. 

But Maria Theresa was far from being satisfied with The great 

merely the French alliance. She signed also alliances '^^S"^ 
■' ° against 

with Russia, Sweden, and Saxony, and therefore, when the Frederick. 

war broke out, had good reason to hope that Frederick 

would be smothered by mere numbers. 

Frederick's one chance in this tremendous crisis was to The Seven 

move quickly. Therefore before the allies were ready, ^^^5^ War 
^ J } ' begins, 

he occupied Saxony, and invaded Bohemia (autumn, 1756). 1756. 
The next year his enemies, whose number had meanwhile, 
at the instigation of Francis I., the husband of Maria 
Theresa, been increased by the accession of the states of 
the empire, marched upon him from all points of the com- 
pass. Again he planned to meet them separately before 
they had united. He hurried into Bohemia, and was on 
the point of taking the capital, Prague, when the defeat of 
a part of his army at Kolin (June i8th), forced him to 
retreat to Saxony. Slowly the Austrians followed and 
poured into the coveted Silesia. The Russians had already 
arrived in East Prussia, the Swedes were in Pomerania, 
and the French, together with the Imperialists — as the 
troops of the Empire were called — were marching upon 
Berlin. The friends and family of Frederick were ready 
to declare that all was lost. He alone kept up heart, and 
by his courage and intelligence freed himself from all im- 
mediate danger by a succession of surprising victories. At 
Rossbach, in Thuringia, he fell, with 22,000 men, upon 
the combined French and Imperialists of twice that num- 



454 



The Modern Period 



The famous 
campaign of 

1757- 



The situa- 
tion is sim- 
plified. 



Prussia 
against 
Austria and 
Russia. 



Frederick 

gro^vs 

weaker. 



ber, and scattered them to the winds (November 5, 1757). 
Then he turned hke a flash from the west to the east. Dur- 
ing his absence, in Thuringia, the Austrians had completed 
the conquest of Silesia, and were already proclaiming to 
the world that they had come again into their own. Just 
a month after Rossbach, at Leuthen, near Breslau, he 
signally defeated, with 34,000 men, more than twice as 
many Austrians, and drove them pell-mell over the passes 
of the Giant Mountains back into their own dominions. 
Fear and incapacity had already arrested the Swedes and 
Russians. Before the winter came, both had slipped away, 
and at Christmas, 1757, Frederick could call himself lord 
of an undiminished kingdom. 

In no succeeding campaign was Frederick threatened by 
such overwhelming forces as in 1757. By the next year 
England had fitted out an army which, under Ferdinand of 
Brunswick, operated against the French upon the Rhine, 
and so protected Frederick from that side. As the Swedish 
attack degenerated at the same time into a mere farce, Fred- 
erick was allowed to neglect his Scandinavian enemy, and 
give all his attention to Austria and Russia. No doubt even 
so, the odds against Prussia were enormous. Prussia was a 
poor barren country of barely 5,000,000 inhabitants, and in 
men and resources, Austria and Russia together outstripped 
her at least ten times ; but at the head of Prussia stood a 
military genius, with a spirit that neither bent nor broke, 
and that fact sufficed for awhile to establish an equi- 
librium. 

It was Frederick's policy during the next years to meet 
the Austrians and Russians separately, in order to keep 
them from rolling down upon him with combined forces. 
In 1758, be succeeded in beating the Russians at Zorndorf 
and driving them back, but in 1759 they beat him in the 
disastrous battle of Kunersdorf. For a moment now it 



The Rise of Prussia 455 

looked as if he were lost, but he somehow raised another 

army about him, and the end of the campaign found him 

not much worse off than the beginning. However, he 

was evidently getting weak ; the terrible strain continued 

through years was beginning to tell ; and when George 

III., the new English monarch, refused (1761) to pay the England 

annual subsidy, by which Frederick was enabled to keep ^^^^ ^ ""' 

his army on foot, the proud king himself could hardly keep 

up his hopes. 

At this crisis Frederick was saved by the intervention Peace with 
of fortune. Frederick's implacable enemy, the Czarina jlgl^'^* 
Elizabeth, died January 5, 1762. Her successor, Peter HI., 
who was an ardent admirer of the Prussian king, not only 
straightway detached his troops from the Austrians, and 
signed a peace, but went so far as to propose a treaty of 
alliance with the late enemy of Russia. Peter HI. was soon 
overthrown (July, 1762), but although his successor, Cath- 
arine II., cancelled the Prussian alliance, she allowed the 
peace to stand. This same year England and France 
came to an understanding (Preliminaries of Fontainebleau, 
1762), and hostilities between them were at once suspended 
on all the seas. So there remained under arms only Aus- 
tria and Prussia, and as Austria could not hope to do 
unaided, what she had failed to do with half of Europe at Peace with 
her side, Maria Theresa, although with heavy heart, resolved 175, "^' 
to come to terms. In the peace of Hubertsburg (February, 
1763), the cession of Silesia to Frederick was made final. 

Counting from the Peace of Hubertsburg Frederick had The second 
still twenty-three years before him. They were years de- P^"°° °* 
voted to the works of peace. And all his energy and ad- 86. 
ministrative ability were required to bring his exhausted 
country back to vigor. We now hear again, as during the 
first period of peace (1745-56), of extensive reforms, of 
the formation of provincial banks, the draining of bogs, 



456 



The Model')! Period 



The acquisi- 
tion of West 
Prussia. 



The rivalry 
of Austria 
and Prussia. 



the cutting of canals, and the encouragement of industries; 
in a word, we hear of Frederick doing everything that 
an energetic ruler has ever been known to do. 

Only one political event of the last period of Frederick's 
life claims our attention. In 1772 the troubles in Poland 
led to the First Partition of that unhappy country among 
Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Frederick received, as his 
share, the province of West Prussia, establishing, at last, 
by means of it the necessary continuity between his cen- 
tral and his eastern provinces. 

The great result of Frederick's reign was, that he created 
the dualism between Austria and Prussia, and that from his 
time on the ancient Catholic power, Austria, the traditional 
head of the German confederation, was engaged in fierce 
rivalry with upstart Protestant Prussia for the control of 
Germany, In fact the mutual jealousy of these two states 
is the central theme of German history for the next one 
hundred years, and it is only within the memory of living 
men (1866) that this chapter has been definitely closed by 
the final victory of Prussia and by the exclusion of Austria 
from Germany. In that famous settlement, introductory 
to the unification of Germany (1871), it is not difficult to 
perceive that Frederick had a hand. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Domestic Labors of the Great Elector and of Frederick W^illiam I. 

Tuttle, Vol. I., especially Chapters VI. and X. 
Carlyle, Bk. III., Chap. XVIII. : Bk. IV. (passim). 

2. The Relations of Frederick and Voltaire. 

Carlyle, Bk. X., Chap. II. ; Bk. XI., Chap. IV. ; Bk. XIV., Chap. 

II. ; Bk. XVI. (passim). 
Tuttle, Vol. II., Chaps. I. and II. (passim); Vol. III., Chap. V. 



England and France in the Eighteenth Century 457 



CHAPTER XXIX 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE EIGHTEENTH 

CENTURY 

LITERATURE. — Gardiner, Students History of Englatid. Parts VIII. 
and IX. 
Adams, Gro-wtk of the Freiich Nation. $i.oo. Macmillan. 
V&x^avci^, France under Louis XV. 2 vols. $4.00. Houghton. 
Qx^e.n, History 0/ the English People. 4 vols. $8.00. Harper. 
\^^z\y , England in tlie Eighteenth Century. 8 vols. $12.00. Appleton. 
lAa)r\a.n, InJJuenee 0/ Sea-Po7uer upon History. $4.00. Little, Brown. 



The "Glorious Revolution " of 1688 ended the period 
of the civil wars in England. It had established the Prot- 
estant sovereigns, William and Mary, upon the throne ; it 
had, by the Bill of Rights, made the law supreme over the 
king; and it had paved the way to an understanding be- 
tween the Established Church and the Dissenters by the 
Toleration Act. 

For the first few years of his reign, William had to se- 
cure his throne by fighting. James II. had sought refuge 
with Louis XIV., and the decision of the French king to 
espouse the cause of James naturally threw England on the 
side of the allies, consisting of the emperor, the Dutch, and 
Spain, with whom Louis had just engaged in the war known 
as the War of the Palatinate (1688-97). This was the first 
time that England had reached out a hand to the powers of 
the Continent to help them against the continued aggres- 
sions of Louis XIV. Her national interests had long ago 
demanded that she associate herself with the enemies of 
France, but it was one of the penalties she paid for putting 
up with Stuart rule, that she was not governed for her 
own, but for dynastic ends. It is the great merit of Will- 
iam to have amalgamated the interests of the nation and 



The result 
of the 
" Glorious 
Revolu- 
tion." 



William in- 
troduces a 
new foreign 
policy. 



458 



The Modern Period 



Rivalry of 
France and 
England. 



William 
conquers 
Ireland. 



Battle of 
the Boyne, 
1690. 



The 

relations 
between 
England 
and Ireland. 



The policy 
of confisca- 
tion. 



the interests of the monarchy, and to have given a direction 
to Enghsh affairs which was steadily maintained during 
the next century, and ended not only with checking the 
ambition of France on the Continent, but also in wresting 
from her her best colonies, and in winning the supremacy 
of the seas. 

The War of the Palatinate has been dealt with elsewhere 
in connection witli Louis XIV. ; one chapter of it, however, 
the insurrection of Ireland, must be embodied in the history 
of William's reign. In March, 1689, James II. landed in 
Ireland, and immediately the Irish, who were enthusiastic 
Catholics, gathered around him. However, on July i, 
1690, William defeated James II. at the battle of the 
Boyne, whereupon James, who was a poor soldier, hur- 
ried back to France, shamefully abandoning to the English 
mercies the people who had risen in his behalf. The 
measures now taken by William and his successors against 
the Irish broke their resistance to English rule for a hun- 
dred years. 

It will be well before we speak of these measures, to re- 
view the relations of England and Ireland during the whole 
seventeenth century. When James I. mounted the throne 
(1603), Ireland had been a dependency of the English 
crown for centuries, but never more than a nominal one. 
James, by breaking the power of the family of O'Neill, be- 
came real master there. The question now was : how 
secure the prize? After much deliberation, James resolved 
(16 10) to confiscate the province of Ulster and settle it 
with English and Scotch colonists. The Irish were simply 
crowded out, with no more said than that they must seek 
subsistence elsewhere. The act of 1610 created an im- 
placable hatred between oj:)pressors and oppressed. 

In consequence the next century of Irish history is 
crowded with rebellions and Lorrors. In the year 1 641, 



England and France in the Eighteenth Century 459 

during the civil disturbances in England, the Irish fell upon 
the colonists and destroyed them. But England got her re- 
venge in 1649. I^^ that year Cromwell overthrew the 
rebels with terrible slaughter, and set the crown on his 
work of violence by confiscating, in addition to Ulster, Confiscation 
the provinces of Leinster and Munster. The Irish were continued. 
bidden to find bread, or else a grave in the wilderness of 
the remaining province, Connaught. But when William 
III. overthrew the next insurrection at the battle of the 
Boyne (1690), the policy of confiscation was applied to 
the most of Connaught too. Therewith the Irish had 
become a landless people in their own land, and were 
reduced to becoming tenants, day - laborers, and beg- 
gars, which they have remained, to a large extent, to 
this day. 

It has already been said that William's great merit, as William 
sovereign of England, was that he enabled her to follow her ' ^^^"^ *° 
natural inclination and range herself with the enemies of France. 
Louis XIV. He gave all his life as English sovereign to 
creating a system of balance to the power of France. This 
system he discovered in the alliance of England, the em- 
peror, and the Dutch, and it was this alliance which waged 
the War of the Palatinate (1689-97), with the result that 
Louis XIV. drew off, at the Peace of Ryswick, without a 
gain. It was only in the next war, the war of the Spanish 
Succession, that the alliance soundly defeated Louis, but 
that war William, although he had prepared for it, did not 
live to see, as he died in 1702. His wife Mary, having 
died some years before (1694), without issue, the crown 
now passed, by virtue of the Act of Settlement (1701), to 
Mary's sister Anne. The Act of Settlement further pro- The Act of 
vided, with regard to the succession, that, in case of Anne's Settlement, 
death without heirs, the crown was to pass to the Electress 
Sophia of Hanover and her descendants, the principle 



46o 



The Modern Period 



Growth of 
Parliament ; 
decline of 
king. 



Freedom of 
the press. 



Annual vote 
of supplies. 



The War of 
the Spanish 
Succession. 



which determined the selection of Sophia being that she 
was the nearest Protestant heir.^ 

William's reign is constitutionally very interesting. Al- 
though the Parliament, as we have seen, had won in the 
long struggle with the king, it was not inclined, for that 
reason, to rest upon its laurels. It now proceeded to reap 
gradually the harvest of its victory. From William's time 
on we have, therefore, to notice a continual enlargement of 
the sphere of tlie Parliament, accompanied by a proportion- 
ate restriction of the sphere of the king, until we arrive at 
the condition which obtains in this century, when the sov- 
ereign of England is hardly more than a sovereign in name, 

A number of acts, passed under William, prepared this 
development. We notice of them only the more important. 
First to consider is the removal of all restrictions weighing 
on the freedom of the press (1695) ; henceforth there ob- 
tained in England that state of free opinion which is the 
necessary concomitant of free government. Secondly, we 
note that William's Parliaments fell into the habit of mak- 
ing their money-grants for one year only — which custom 
had the consequence of necessitating annual Parliaments, 
since the king's officers were not qualified to collect a 
revenue that had not first been regularly voted. From 
William's time on, therefore, the king's old trick of getting 
rid of Parliament by indefinite adjournment, had to be 
abandoned. 

The event of the reign of Anne (1702-14), overshadow- 
ing all others, was the War of the Spanish Succession. 
It has been treated elsewhere. Although England won 
therein a leading position among the powers of Europe, 
Marlborough's march of victory from Blenheim to Mal- 
plaquet did not excite universal ap})roval. The Tories, 



' See genealogical chart No. x. , 3. 



England and France in the Eighteenth Century 461 

who were recruited largely from the gentry, had never 
looked upon the war with favor. As the taxes grew heavier 
and the national debt became more burdensome, an increas- 
ing part of the population rallied to the opposition. It was 
with the aid of the Whigs, who were in control of the min- 
istry, and of the duchess of Marlborough, who controlled 
the easy-going, good-natured queen, that the duke was en- 
abled to carry on his campaigns in the Netherlands and Ger- 
many. However, the duchess, being a high-strung and ar- 
rogant lady and not always capable of holding her tongue, 
gradually fell out of favor, and in 17 10 the queen, having 
become disgusted with the whole Whig connection, abruptly 
dismissed the Whigs from office. There followed a ministry 
of Tories, with a policy of peace at any price, and the re- 
sult was that Marlborough was disgraced, and that Eng- 
land signed in 17 13, the Peace of Utrecht, by virtue of 
which she acquired from France, Newfoundland, Nova 
Scotia, and the Hudson Bay territory; from Spain, Gibral- 
tar and Minorca; but, best of all, she could now boast 
herself without a rival upon the sea. 

An event of Anne's reign, which, although not much Union with 
noticed, was hardly less important than the War of the ?5°*'*" ' 
Spanish Succession, was the union with Scotland. Since 
the accession of James I., Scotland and England had had 
the same sovereigns, but, for the rest, had remained jeal- 
ously independent of each other under separate Parliaments 
and separate laws. In 1707 the century-old suspicion be- 
tween the two nations was forgotten long enough for an 
agreement to be arrived at, by which the two Parliaments 
were merged in one. 

In the year 17 14, Anne died, and the crown fell to the Accession of 

House of Hanover. The Electress Sophia, who had been ^^ "°"^^ °^ 

'■ Hanover. 

designated by the Act of Settlement as the eventual heir, 
having preceded Anne in death, her son, George I., now 



462 



The Modern Period 



Rule of the 
Whig aris- 
tocracy. 



Develop- 
ment of cab- 
inet govern- 
ment. 



ascended the throne. Some great stroke on the part of 
the Pretender, the son of James II., was expected, but 
when it fell (17 15), it turned out to be harmless. The 
man who claimed to be James III. had hardly landed when 
his courage failed him, and he turned back to France, 

George I. (1714-27), immediately dismissed from office 
the Tories, who were known to be favorable to the Stuarts, 
and chose his advisers from among the Whigs. He clung 
to the Whigs for the rest of his life, and so introduced that 
government of the Whig aristocracy, which is one of the 
leading features of the constitutional history of the eigh- 
teenth century. 

This prolonged power of a single party helped Parlia- 
ment in taking another step toward acquiring complete 
control of the state ; with George I. is associated the begin- 
ning of cabinet government. We have already seen that, 
as far back as Charles 11. the Parliament was divided into 
Whigs and Tories. As things stood then, though the ma- 
jority of the Commons were Tory, the king could continue 
to choose his ministry from the Whigs. Sooner or later it 
was bound to appear that such a division was harmful, and 
that to attain the best results the ministry would have to be 
in accord with the majority of the Commons. The reform 
meant a new loss of influence by the king, but under 
George I. the development was duly effected. Henceforth 
the ministry was still named by the king, but, as no set of 
men who had not first assured themselves that they were 
supported by a majority in the Commons, would accept the 
appointment, the Parliament practically dictated the king's 
cabinet. With the annual vote of supplies, and with cabinet 
and party rule established as practices of the English Gov- 
ernment, the constitution may be said to have reached the 
character which distinguishes it to-day. 

George's reign was a reign of peace. It furnished just 



England and France in the Eighteenth Century 463 

the opportunity which the Whigs wanted to develop the Walpole's 
prosperity of the great middle class, upon which they de- j^^j^ sense 
pended against the combination of Tory squire and Tory 
clergyman. The leading man among the Whigs, and 
author of their pohcy, was Sir Robert Walpole. One may 
sum up his ideas by saying that he wished to settle Eng- 
land under the Hanoverian dynasty, and give free play to 
the commercial and industrial energy of his countrymen. 
The period which he directed is therefore well entitled the 
era of common sense. 

It was only when Walpole deliberately set himself against 
the people that he lost his hold. George I. had meanwhile 
been succeeded by George II. (1727-60). The new king 
was, like his father, without intelligence, but was possessed, 
like him, with a certain honesty and solidity, and under 
the direction of Walpole, he continued the peace policy of 
George I., until a succession of events plunged Europe 
again into war. In the year 1738, a storm of indignation 
swept over the English people at the restrictions which 
Spain had for ages been putting upon English trade with 
the Spanish colonies. Walpole, against his will, was forced War with 
to declare war (1739). The next year the continental ^P^'"> ^739- 
powers becoming involved among themselves, owing to the 
death of Emperor Charles VI. (1740) and the dispute about 
his heritage, there followed the war known as the war 
of the Austrian Succession (1740-4S). As Walpole was 
unsuited for an enterprise of this nature, and as, moreover, 
he stood personally for peace, his majority melted away, 
and, in 1742, he resigned. He had directed the destinies 
of England for twenty-one years (1721-42). 

The war of the Austrian Succession was, as far as England 
is concerned, entirely inconclusive, and, when the Peace 
of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed, left matters as they were. 
The one incident associated with the war which is now 



464 



The Modern Period 



The inva- 
sion of the 
Young Pre- 
tender, 
1745- 



The Re- 
gency in 
France. 



The War of 
the Polish 
Succession, 

1733-35- 



remembered In England, was the attempt of Charles Ed- 
ward, son of the Pretender, and known as the Young Pre- 
tender, to win back his kingdom. In July, 1745, he 
landed with only seven men, in the Highlands of Scotland, 
and the Highlanders flocking to him in crowds, he was soon 
enabled to take Edinburgh. For a moment now the gov- 
ernment at London lost its head, but it was soon found 
that the wild courage of feudal clans was of no avail against 
the discipline of a trained army. On Culloden Moor 
(April, 1746) the Highlanders were defeated with fearful 
slaughter by the king's second son, the duke of Cumber- 
land. Prince Charlie, after many romantic adventures, 
made his escape ; but he lived ever afterward in indolence 
abroad, and gave no further trouble (d. 1788). His fail- 
ure marks the last Stuart attempt to recover the throne. 

While England, under Walpole, was preparing to as- 
sume the industrial leadership of the world, France was 
doing little or nothing to recover from the disasters of the 
War of the Spanish Succession. When Louis XIV. died, 
in the year 1715, he was succeeded by his great-grandson 
Louis XV. (1715-74). As Louis XV. was but five years 
old at the time, the government during his minority was 
exercised in his name by the nephew of Louis XIV., Philip, 
duke of Orleans. The regent Orleans, although a man of 
intelligence, Avas utterly debauched and succeeded only in 
plunging France into deeper misery. Nobody grieved 
when he died in 1723. 

The great event of Louis XV's reign is, of course, the 
struggle with England for colonial empire in the Seven 
Years' War. Chronologically, however, that event is sub- 
sequent to two others which must be briefly recorded. 
From 1733 to 1735 France waged war with Austria, because 
of a difference over a Polish royal election, the war of the 
Polish Succession, and in this Avar France rapidly worsted 



England and France in flic Eighteenth Century 465 

Austria and won the duchy of Lorraine. This turned out 
to be the last gain that France made from Germany under 
the old regime, and rounded off the long list of conquests 
that had been begun by the acquisition almost two centu- 
ries before of Metz, Toul, and Verdun by Henry II. (1552). 
The other war, the war of the Austrian Succession (1740- The War of 

48) effected no territorial change in France, the Peace of the Austrian 

Succession 
Aix-la-Chapelle being concluded, as we know, upon the 1740-48. 

basis of mutual restitutions. 

Toward the middle of the eighteenth century, the great 
question for France became : would she hold her own in 
the increasing maritime and colonial rivalry with England. Rivalry 
These two powers, indisputably the greatest in the world, F^rance"and 
had begun to clash in America, India, and on all the seas, England, 
and, as the settlement of their conflicting claims by means 
of amicable negotiations was out of the question, it be- 
came plain that the disputants would have to resort to arms. 
We have already seen, in treating of Frederick the Great, 
how this rivalry got subtly bound up with the question of 
supremacy in Germany that had risen between Prussia and 
Austria, and we have also seen how the outbreak of the 
French-English struggle was preceded by a diplomatic rev- 
olution. This revolution came to a head in 1756, and The diplo- 
leagued England and Prussia together against France and V^^. ""^^O" 
Austria. The Prussian-Austrian phase of this world-con- 1756. 
flict, called the Seven Years' War (1756-63), has already 
been studied. We turn now to the French-English phase 
of it, and therewith to a struggle which is properly the 
most important contest of the century, for it determined 
whether America and India were to be French or English. 

France made great sacrifices in the Seven Years' War to The Seven 

maintain her power. She sent an army over the Rhine to Years' War, 

. 1756-63. 

co-operute with the Austrians against the Prussians and the 

English, and she prepared to defend herself with might in 



466 



The Modern Period 



America and on the sea. Unfortunately she was governed 
by an ignorant and vicious king, who was too feeble to 
persist in any policy, and who was no better than the 
puppet of his courtiers and his mistresses. The real direc- 
tion of French affairs during the war lay in the hands of 
Madame de Pompadour, 

While government was thus being travestied in France, 

the power in England fell into the hands of the capable and 

Pitt, captain fiery William Pitt, who is known in history as the Great 



of England. 



English 
victories. 



Commoner, and who now organized the strength of Eng- 
land as no one had ever organized it before. Fleets and 
armies were equipped and dispatched in accordance with a 
simple and comprehensive plan to all parts of the world. 
Under these circumstances, victory necessarily fell to Eng- 
land. The French army in Germany was badly beaten by 
Frederick the Great at Rossbach (1757), and later held in 
effective check by the English and Hanoverian forces under 
Ferdinand of Brunswick. But the most signal advantages of 
the English were won, not in Euroj^e, but on the sea and in 
the colonies. First, the French were driven from the basin 
of the Ohio (1758).' In the next year Wolfe's capture of 
Quebec secured the course of the St. Lawrence, and there- 
with completed the conquest of Canada. Furthermore, in 
India, the celebrated Lord Clive (victory of Plassey, 1757), 
crowded out the French and established the English influ- 
ence, while the great maritime victories (1759) of Lagos 
and Quiberon confirmed England's ancient naval greatness. 
In the year 1760, while the war was at its height, 
George II. died, and was succeeded by his grandson. 



' The French hail claimed the whole Mississippi basin, and in order to 
shut out the English had built a fort on the upper Ohio. In 1755 Gen- 
eral Braddock was sent out to destroy the French fort, but refusing to be 
guided by the advice of the V'irginian officer, George Washington, was 
badly beaten. When the French fort was finally taken, it was re-baptized 
Pittsburg, in honor of England's great minister. 



England and France in the Eighteenth Century 467 

George III. (i 760-1 820). George III. had one leading George III., 
idea, which was to regain for himself the place in the gov- 1700-1820. 
ernment which had been usurped by the Parliament. So 
completely was he absorbed by this policy, that the war 
had only a secondary interest for him. He therefore dis- 
missed Pitt, who was identified with the war, from office 
(1761), and shortly after ordered Lord Bute, a minister of 
his own independent appointment, to conclude peace with 
France. Although the English negotiators, in their haste 
to have done, occasionally sacrificed the English interests, 
the great results of Pitt's victories could not be overturned. 
By the Peace of Paris (1763) England acquired from Peace of 
France, Canada and the territory east of the Mississippi Pa"s, 1763. 
River, and reduced the French in India to a (qw trading 
posts. 

If the Seven Years' War is the greatest triumph of Eng- The Ameri- 
land in history, she was visited soon afterward with her 
severest disgrace. In the year 1765 the British Parliament 
levied a tax upon the American colonies, called the Stamp 
Act. When it became known that the tax aroused discon- 
tent, it was wisely withdrawn, but at the same time the 
principle was asserted and proclaimed that the British Par- 
liament had the right to tax the colonies. As the Ameri- 
cans would not accept this point of view, friction grew 
apace and soon led to mob violence. The British minis- 
try, which was under the direction of a very high-spirited 
king, resorted to military force, and the answer of the 
Americans to this measure was the resolution to revolt 
(Declaration of Independence, 1776). In 1778 the colo- 
nists, through their agent, Benjamin Franklin, made an 
alliance with France, and from this time on the English 
were hard pressed by land and by sea. Finally, the sur- 
render of Yorktown (1781) to the American hero of the 
war, George Washington, disposed the English to peace. 



can Revolu- 
tion, 1776. 



468 



The Modern Period 



The Peace 
of Ver- 
sailles, 
1783. 



Renewal of 
agitation in 
Ireland. 



The Act of 
Union, 1800. 



Ill the peace of Versailles (1783) England made France a 
few unimportant colonial concessions, but the really mem- 
orable feature of the peace was the recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the American colonies. 

This American success once more stirred the Irish to 
action. Ever since the brutal confiscations of the time of 
William III. they had borne their ills in silence ; they were 
crushed. But now they began an agitation for Legislative 
Independence or Home Rule, with the result that the min- 
istry at London, intimidated by the American calamity, 
yielded the point (1782). The troubles in the island, 
however, did not cease ; bloody encounters between the 
Catholic natives and the Protestant colonists were common 
occurrences; and in 1800 the younger Pitt, who held the 
post of Prime Minister, resolved to make an end, and passed 
an Act of Union which destroyed the independence of Ire- 
land for good and all, and incorporated the Irish Parlia- 
ment with the British Parliament at London. Since then 
Ireland has been ruled in all respects from the English 
capital. 

The Act of Union did not greatly occupy the pubhc 
mind. For when it was passed the French Revolution, 
though it was now in its twelfth year, was still holding the 
attention of all Europe riveted upon it. 



SPECIAL TOPICS 



The Regent and the Regency. Perkins, France Under the Regency. 
Chap. X. ff. Guizot, History of France, Vol. V., Chap. LI. 

The Struggle ovek India. Story, Building of the British F.vipire. (Na- 
tions.) 2 vols. $3.00. Putnam. Seeley, The Expansion of England, 
$1.75. Little, Brown. Perkins, France Under Louis XV. Vol. I., 
Chaps. IX. and X. 

The Stuart Attempts to Recover the Throne. Green, Bk. VIII., Chap. 
IV. (passim). Dictionary of National Biography. Macmillan. Sec 
articles James and Charles Edward. Thackeray, Henry Esmond 
(novel). Scott, Waverky (novel). 



SECTION III 

REVOLUTION AND RECONSTRUCTION; FROM THE 
FRENCH REVOLUTION TO OUR OWN TIME 

(1789-1900) 

Our third section begins with the French Revolution, 
which gave general currency to those essentially modern 
principles, the sovereignty of the people and national 
unity. As these principles were opposed to the principles 
of absolutism in vogue during the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth centuries, there arose a struggle, which, under the 
form of liberalism versus conservatism, has continued 
throughout the nineteenth century. The end, however, 
was the victory of liberalism, resulting in the very general 
establishment throughout Europe of constitutional or lim- 
ited monarchies on a national basis. 

CHAPTER XXX 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND ERA OF NAPOLEON 

(1789-1815) 

LITERATURE.— Stephens, Europe, 1789-1815. $1.40. Macmillan. 

Rose, The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era (tySg-rSrs)- $1.25. Mac- 
millan. 

L,owc\\, Eve 0/ the French Revolution. $2.00. Houghton. 

Tains, T/ie Ancient Regime. $2.50. Holt. K\%q The French Revolution, 
3 vols. $7.50. A.\so The Modern Regime. 2 vols. $5.00. 

Stephens, French Revolution. 2 vols. $5.00. Scribner. 

Carlyle, French Revolution. $3.75. Scribner. 

Von Sybel, French Revolution. 4 vols. Murray. London. (Out of 
print.) 

Sloane, Napoleon. (In Century Magazine of 1896 and 1897.) 

Translations and Reprints, University of Penn. Vol. I., No. 5 {Rights 
of Man, Jacobin Club) etc. Vol. II., No. 2 {Treaties, Continental 
System). Vol. IV., No. 5 (Cahiers of lySg). Vol. V., No. 2 
( Taxation under A ncient Regime). 

If the seventeenth century, which recalls the names of 
Richelieu, Colbert, and Louis XIV., was the period of the 

469 



470 



The Modern Period 



The condi- 
tion of 
France at 
the end of 
the eigh- 
teenth cen- 
tury. 



Decay due 
to system 
of govern- 
ment. 



The king is 
the state. 



Louis XV. 



expansion of France, the eighteenth century, associated 
with such names as the Regent Orleans, Louis XV., and 
Madame de Pompadour, proved the period of French de- 
cay. We have just seen that the Seven Years' War all but 
completed the ruin of the kingdom, for the defeats of the 
armies of France in Germany destroyed her military pres- 
tige, and her maritime disasters overthrew her naval power 
and deprived her of her colonies. But the loss of her great 
position was not the worst consequence of the Seven Years' 
War. France found herself, on the conclusion of the Peace 
of Paris (1763), in such a condition of exhaustion, that it 
was doubtful, even to patriots, whether she would ever 
recover health and strength. 

The case, at first sight, seemed anomalous. Here was 
a country which, in point of natural resources, had the 
advantage over every other country of Europe ; its popula- 
tion, which was estimated at 25,000,000, was greater than 
that of any rival state ; and the mass of the nation had no 
cause to fear comparison with any other people as regards 
industry, thrift, and intelligence. If this people so con- 
stituted tottered in the second half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury on the verge of disruption, that circumstance cannot 
be ascribed to any inherent defect in the nation. It was 
due solely to the break-downi of the system of government 
and of society, which bound the nation together. 

The reader is acquainted with the development of the 
absolute power of the French king — he had absorbed, 
gradually, all the functions of government. In fact, as 
Louis XIV. himself had announced, the king had become 
the state. Now it is plain that such extensive duties 
devolving on the king, only a very superior monarch was 
capable of holding and giving value to the royal office. 
Louis XIV. never failed at least in assiduity. But his suc- 
cessor, Louis XV., who was weak and frivolous, and 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 471 



incapable of sustained work, shirked the exercise of the 
powers which he none the less claimed as his due. The 
result was that the business of governing fell to a greedy 
horde of courtiers and adventuresses, who were principally 
concerned with fattening their fortunes, and who sacrificed, 
with no more regret than is exi^ressed by a shrug of the 
shoulders and a laugh, every interest of the state. 

If under Louis XV. the centralized monarchy progres- 
sively declined, the whole social fabric which that mon- 
archy crowned, exhibited no less certain signs of decay 
and disruption. French society, like that of all Europe, 
had its starting-point in the feudal principle of class. In 
feudal times there had been recognized two great ruling 
cla.sses, the clergy and the nobility, which in return for 
the services they rendered as the provincial government, 
enjoyed exemption from taxation. In the eighteenth 
century the central government was performing those 
local services, but the clergy and nobility still enjoyed 
exemption. What for ? Plainly the arrangement was 
iniquitous, for it divided France into privileged and un- 
privileged cla.sscs, or into subjects who pjaid and subjects 
who did not pay. But the social inequality did not end 
here, for the privileged classes had also a monopoly of the 
honors and emoluments. No least lieutenancy in the 
army, which the money of the commoners supported, was 
open to a son of a commoner, and neither the Church nor 
the government, except in rare instances, admitted into 
their high places the man of humble birth. 

The membership of the two orders, to whom these ex- 
tensive privileges were reserved, was not very large. The 
noble families numbered 25,000 to 30,000, with an aggre- 
gate membership of perhaps 140,000 ; and the clergy, 
including the various religious orders and the parish priests, 
had an enrolment of about as many names. These two 



The feudal 

orders 

become 

privileged 

orders. 



The num- 
bers and the 
wealth of 
the privi- 
leged. 



4/2 The Modern Period 

castes between them owned about half the land of France, 
so that it could be fairly claimed by the indignant people 
that the principle of taxation which obtained in their 
country was: to relieve those who did not need relief, and 
to burden those who were already overburdened. 
The prog- The commoners, or members of the Third Estate (tiers 

••pec c\\ f" h P 

Third Es- etat), who were shut out from the places of authority re- 
tate. served to the first two estates of the realm, were reduced to 

finding an outlet for their energy in the field of business 
enterprise or else in literature. They succeeded in piling 
up wealth both in Paris and in the cities of the provinces, 
until their resources, constantly increased through thrift and 
hard work, far exceeded those of the nobility, who con- 
cerned themselves only with elegantly spending what they 
had and what they could borrow. Thus the bourgeoisie 
had long been better off than the nobility ; and now they 
proceeded to surpass the nobility in other respects. For 
increase of wealth had brought increase of leisure and of 
the desire and power to learn and grow. So it happened 
that in the progress of the eighteenth century, the Third 
Estate had fairly become the intellectual hearth of France. 
The misery But if the bourgeoisie was doubtlessly prospering, the 
ine- da^s * ^^^^ ^^^^ different with the vast majority of French subjects, 
who are often called the Fourth Estate, and who embraced 
the two utterly wretched classes of the urban proletariat 
and the peasants. The proletariat was composed of the 
artisans and day-laborers, and was, owing to the fact that 
the middle class controlled the commercial and industrial 
situation by means of close corporations called guilds, com- 
pletely under the heel of its richer fellow-citizens. But 
The misery still worse off than the working people were the peasants, 
oe t ^^^ ^^^^^^ obligations exceeded all justice and reason. The 

lord of the manor exacted rent from them ; the Church 
levied tithes ; and the king collected taxes almost at will. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 473 

The result was that the peasants did not have enough left 
over from their toil to live on. And if these regular taxes 
did, by any chance, leave anything in their hands, that 
little was constantly jeopardized by certain remaining feu- 
dal obligations. Thus the lord of the land had the sole 
right to hunt, and the peasant was forbidden to erect 
fences to shut out the game from his fields. If the caval- 
cade from the chateau dashed over the young wheat in the 
spring, the peasant could do nothing but look on at the 
ruin of his year, hold his peace, and starve.' 

A government struck with impotence, a society divided The demand 
into discordant classes — these are the main features of the °*^ ^^ °^^' 
picture we have just examined. French public life in the 
eighteenth century had become intolerable. Dissolution 
of that life, in order that reform might follow, was patently 
the only possible escape out of the perennial misery. This 
the educated people began to see more and more clearly, 
and a school of writers, known as the philosophers, made 
themselves their mouthpiece. 

The eighteenth century is the century of criticism. The intel- 
Men had begun to overhaul the whole body of tradition in y^Jjj."* ^^' 
state, Church, and society, and to examine their institu- 
tional inheritances from the point of view of common-sense. 
If things had been allowed to stand hitherto, because they 
were approved by the past, they were to be permitted hence- 
forth only because they were serviceable, and necessary to 
the present. Reason, in other words, was to be the rule 
of life. This gospel the philosophers spread from end to 
end of Europe. They opened fire upon everything that ran 
counter to reason and science — upon the intolerance of the 
Church, upon the privileges of the nobility, upon the abuse 



1 Other vexatious feudal dues were the corvees (compulsory mending 
of the roads), bridge-tolls, and the obligation to grind corn in the mill of 
the lord, and bake bread in his oven. 



474 



The Modern Period 



The centre 
of the intel- 
lectual re- 
volt is 
France. 



of the royal power, upon the viciousness of criminal justice, 
and a hundred other things. 

Although the revolt against the authority of tradition was 
universal in the eighteenth century, the leading names 
among the philosophers are those of Frenchmen, and of all 
the French philosophers, Voltaire ' and Rousseau^ carried 
on the most effective agitation. By means of their work 
and that of their followers, it was brought about that long 
before the Revolution of 1789, there had occurred a revolu- 
tion in the realm of ideas, by which the hold of the exist- 
ing Church, state, and society on the minds of men had 
been signally loosened. All that the material Revolution 
of 1789 did was to register this fact in the institutions and 
in the laws. 

A society which has become thoroughly discredited in 
the minds of those who compose it, is likely to fall apart 
at any moment, and through a hundred different agencies. 
The agency which directly led up to the French Revolu- 
tion, and gave the signal, as it were, for the dissolution 
of the ancient regime, was the state of the finances. 
The debts of Louis XIV. had been increased by the wars 
and extravagances of Louis XV., and by the middle of the 
eighteenth century France was confronted by the difficulty 
of a chronic deficit. As long as Louis XV. reigned (1715- 
The chronic 74), the deficit was covered by fresh loans. Although the 
device was dangerous, it did not arouse any apprehension 
in that monarch's feeble mind. " Things will hold to- 



deficit. 



'Voltaire (1694-1778) excelled in the use of mockery. He made the 
contemporary world ridiculous to itself. Because his writings were so 
specifically addressed to his own time, they have not retained all their 
savor. Perhaps his most valuable production is " I'Essai sur las 
Mix'urs." 

*^Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) was a Genevan by birth. In his 
" Emile ' (a work on education) and his " Contrat Social " (a work on so- 
ciety), he preached the return from artificiality to nature. Voltaire and 
Rousseau differed in many important respects, but were both eloquent 
in their demand for civil and religious liberty. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 475 

gether till my death," he was in the habit of saying com- 
placently, and Madame de Pompadour would add, non- 
chalantly : " After us the deluge. ' ' 

When Louis XVI. (1774-92) succeeded his grandfather. The acces- 

the question of financial reform would not brook any fur- fi??,°^^°"\^ 

AVl. (1774). 

ther delay. The new king was, at his accession, only 
twenty years old, and was honestly desirous of helping his 
people, but he had, unfortunately, neither the requisite 
energy nor the requisite intelligence for developing a pro- 
gramme, and carrying it through, in spite of opposition. 
His queen, Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Maria 
Theresa of Austria, was a lovely and vivacious person, but 
as young and inexperienced as himself. 

The fifteen years from Louis's accession to the outbreak Attempts at 
of the Revolution (1774-89), constitute a period of unin- ^"^.ncial 
termitted struggle with the financial distress. The problem 
was how to make the revenues meet the expenditures, and 
plainly the only feasible solution was reform : the lavish 
expenditure of the court would have to be cut down and the 
privileged orders would have to give up their exemptions. 
For the consideration of these matters Louis at first called 
into his cabinet a number of notable men. xA.mong his 
ministers of finance were the economist Turgot (1774-76), 
and the banker Necker (first ministry, 1778-81; second 
ministry, 1788-90). But although these men labored 
earnestly at reform, they could make no headway owing to 
the opposition of the nobles, and toward the end of the 
eighties the king stared bankruptcy in the face. Since he 
was absolutely without further resource, he now resolved to 
appeal to the nation. The determination was in itself a Appeal to 

revolution, for it contained the admission that the absolute the nation 

(1789). 
monarchy had failed. In May, 1789, there assembled at 

Paris, in order to take council with the king about the 

national distress, the States-General of the realm. 



4/6 



The Modern Period 



The States- 
General 
formerly 
controlled 
by the feudal 
orders. 



The ques- 
tion wheth- 
er the 

States-Gen- 
eral were to 
be an an- 
cient or a 
modern 
body. 



The States-General were the old feudal Parliament of 
France, composed of the elected representatives of the three 
orders, the clergy, the nobles, and the commons. As the 
States-General had not met for one hundred and seventy- 
five years, it was not strange that nobody was acquainted 
with their mode of procedure. So much was certain, 
however, that the assembly had formerly voted by orders, 
and that the action of the privileged orders had always 
been decisive. 

The first question which arose in the assembly was whether 
the feudal orders should be allowed this traditional suprem- 
acy in the new States-General. Among the members of 
the Tliird Estate, as the commons were called in France, 
there was, of course, only one answer. These men held 
that the new States-General were representative, not of the 
old feudal realm, but of the united nation, and that every- 
body, therefore, must have an equal vote. In other words, 
the Third Estate maintained that the vote should not be 
taken by order, but individually. As the Third Estate had 
been permitted to send twice as many delegates (six hun- 
dred) as either clergy or nobility (three hundred each), it 
was plain that the proposition of the Third Estate would 
give that body the preponderance. The clergy and nobil- 
ity, therefore, offered a stubborn resistance ; but, after a 
month of contention, the Third Estate cut the knot by 
boldly declaring itself, with or without the feudal orders, 
the National Assembly (June 17). Horrified by this act 
of violence the king and the court tried to cow the com- 
mons by an abrupt summons to submit to the old procedure, 
but when the commons refused to be frightened, the king 
himself gave way, and ordered the clergy and nobility to 
join the Third Estate (June 27). Thus, at the very begin- 
ning of the Revolution, the power passed out of the hands 
of the king and feudal orders into the hands of the people. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 477 

The National Assembly (^i'/8g-(pi^ 

The National Assembly, which was thus constituted to The Nation- 
regenerate France, was composed of very intelligent men fntellf^ent 
who were animated by a pure enthusiasm to serve their but unprac- 
country. But a fatal defect more than counterbalanced this ^^^ ' 
generous disposition. The Assembly was composed of 
theorists, of men who were inexperienced in the practical 
affairs of government, and was, therefore, calamitously 
prone to treat all questions which arose as felicitous occa- 
sions for the display of parliamentary eloquence. 

Out of this immense body of 1,200 legislators there grad- 
ually came to the front a number of men of whom Lafay- 
ette, Robespierre, and Mirabeau are the most important. Lafayette. 
The marquis de Lafayette had won a great name for 
himself in the American Revolution, and though a noble, 
sympathized with the people. Robespierre, a lawyer by Robes- 
profession, was vain and narrow-minded, but fanatically P^^'"''^' 
attached to the principles of democracy. Head and shoul- 
ders above these two, and above all his colleagues, rose the 
count de Mirabeau, for he was a born statesman, perhaps Mirabeau. 
the only man in the whole Assembly who instinctively knew 
that a government was as natural and gradual a growth as 
a plant or a child. He wished, therefore, to keep the in- 
herited monarchy intact, with just such reforms as would re- 
store it to health and vigor, but unfortunately, he never suc- 
ceeded in acquiring a guiding influence. In the first place, 
he was a noble, and therefore subject to suspicion ; then his 
early life had been a succession of scandals, which now 
rose up and bore witness against him, undermining confi- 
dence in his honor. 

The primary business of the National Assembly was the 
making of a new constitution. It was of the highest im- 
portance that this work should be done in perfect security, 



478 



The Mediccval Period 



Degenera. 
tion of the 
Revolution 
due to the 
mob. 



The insur- 
rections of 
Paris. 



The storm- 
ing of the 
Bastille 

(July 14. 

1789). 



Formation 
of the 
National 
Guard. 



free from the interference of popular passion and violence. 
As the National Assembly represented the propertied in- 
terests, there seemed to be every chance of calm and sys- 
tematic procedure ; but unfortunately the Assembly soon 
fell under the domination of the mob, and that proved the 
ruin of the Revolution. The growth of the influence of the 
lower elements, who interpreted reform as anarchy, is the 
most appalling concomitant of the great events of 1789. 
If we understand this fact, we have the key to the awful 
degeneration of what certainly was, at its outset, a generous 
movement. 

For this degeneration the king and the National Assem- 
bly are both responsible, for, instead of working together 
in harmony, they tried to injure each other as much as they 
could. In consequence the people were kept agitated with 
rumors of court plots, and were ever ready to rise in insur- 
rection against the monarch whom the orators designated 
as " the tyrant." Thus, on July 14, the populace of 
Paris threw itself in a rage upon the Bastille, an ancient 
state prison in the heart of Paris, and after a bloody en- 
counter with the royal troops, razed it to the ground. 

The king at Versailles did not misread the lesson which 
the episode of the Bastille pointed. If he had had any 
thought of employing arms against the Revolution, he now 
abandoned it, and tried to make his peace with the people. 
And the citizen class, too, adopted temporarily, at least, 
a more conciliatory attitude. Resolved to have done with 
violence, they organized for the maintenance of order a 
militia, called the National Guard, and made the popular 
Lafayette commander. The question now was whether 
the national guard understood its duty, and was strong 
enough to repress the lawless elements which were con- 
stantly growing more bold and more numerous. 

The test came soon enough. In October the rumor of 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 479 

another court plot tremendously excited the people. It The insur- 
was said that "the tyrant" was once again scheming to October^q 
put down the Revolution with troops ; and it was further and 6. 
said that he and none other had caused the dreadful famine 
in the city by buying up all the grain in the land. On the 
morning of October 5th, 10,000 women, fierce and hag- 
gard from long suffering, set out for Versailles to fetch the 
king to Paris. The transfer, they were brought to believe, 
would somehow inaugurate a reign of plenty. Naturally 
enough as they straggled along, all the male and female 
riff-raff of the city joined them. But where were the au- 
thorities? Where was Lafayette, the commander of the 
National Guard ? His duty in the face of this popular up- 
rising was plain, but certain it is that he did nothing to 
break up the rioters, probably because he himself sympa- 
thized with their aim to bring the king to Paris. Only 
long after the. insurgents he set out for Versailles, where, on 
his arrival, he found everything in the greatest confusion, 
but where, by his timely intercession, he saved the lives of 
the royal family. However, if the mob spared the king and 
queen, it declared firmly, at the same time, that it would be 
satisfied with nothing short of the removal of the king and 
the royal family to the capital. What could the king do 
but give his consent? On the 6th, the terrible maenads. The king 
indulging in triumphant song and dance along the road, es- ^°"^ucted 
corted the royal family to the Tuileries at Paris. The Tuileries. 
National Assembly, of course, followed the king, and was 
quartered in the riding-school, near the palace. 

The events of October 5 and 6, in literal truth, ruined The mob 
the monarchy, and Lafayette cannot escape the charge "^"^^^fo^th 
of having contributed in large measure to the result. 
The king at the Tuileries, indeed, if that was what La- 
fayette wanted, was now practically Lafayette's prisoner, 
but Lafayette himself, even though it took him some 



480 



The Modern Period 



The clubs. 



The Jaco- 
bins. 



The aboli- 
tion of 
privileges, 
August 4. 



months to find it out, was henceforth the prisoner of the 
mob. 

What greatly contributed to the power of the mob was 
the excitement and vague enthusiasm which possessed all 
classes alike. We must always remember, in order to un- 
derstand the tremendous pace at which the Revolution de- 
veloped, that the year 1789 marks an almost unparalleled 
agitation of public opinion. Leading symptoms of this 
agitation were the innumerable pamphlets and newspapers 
which accompanied the events of the day with explana- 
tory comment, but a still more unique witness of the exal- 
tation of men's minds was offered by the clubs. Clubs 
for consultation and debate became the great demand 
of the hour ; they arose spontaneously in all quarters ; 
in fact, every coffee-house acquired, through the passion 
of its frequenters, the character of a political association. 
Of all these unions the Jacobins soon won the most in- 
fluential position. Beginning moderately enough, they 
offered a meeting-point for the constitutional and educated 
elements, and rapidly spread in numberless branches or 
so-called daughter-societies over the length and breadth of 
France. Unfortunately, however, this club, too, soon fell 
under the domination of the extreme revolutionary tenden- 
cies. Lafayette and Mirabeau, whose power was at first 
dominant, were gradually displaced by Robespierre ; and 
Robespierre, once in authority, skilfully used the club as 
a means of binding together the radical opinion of the 
coimtry. 

Throughout the years 1789 and 1790, the National As- 
sembly was engaged with providing for the government of 
France, and in making a constitution. The great question 
of the privileges, which had proved unsolvable in the early 
years of Louis XVL, caused no difficulties after the Na- 
tional Assembly had once been constituted. On August 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 481 

4, 1789, the nobility and clergy, in an access of magna- 
nimity, renounced voluntarily their feudal rights, and de- 
manded that they be admitted into the great body of 
French citizens on a basis of equality. August 4 is one of 
the great days of the Revolution. 

In the intervals of the discharge of the current business, The charac- 
the Assembly deliberated concerning the future constitution ^^^ consti- 
of France. Of course it is not possible to examine it here tution. 
in any degree of detail, but if we remember that it was the 
work of men Avho had suffered from an absolute executive, 
we shall understand its principal feature, which was that 
the legislative branch of the government was made superior 
to the executive branch. The legislative functions were 
entrusted to a legislature of one house elected for two years. 
Mirabeau, the great statesman of the Revolution, fought 
hard to preserve the king that measure of power which an 
executive requires in order to be efficient ; but he was un- 
appreciated by his colleagues and in almost all important 
matters met defeat. Broken down by disappointment and The death 
reckless excesses he died (April, 1791), prophesying in his of Mirabeau, 
last days, with marvellous accuracy, all the ulterior stages 1791. 
of the Revolution. 

The death of Mirabeau, the supporter of monarchy, The uncom- 
greatly weakened the king's position. Ever since October ^gv e 
6, Louis had been the virtual prisoner of the populace, and the king, 
ever since that time he was being systematically deprived 
of his authority by the National Assembly. The constitu- 
tion, which in the spring of 1791 was nearing completion, 
he regarded as impracticable, and since the death of 
Mirabeau destroyed the hope of an effective revi?:ion, it is 
not strange that he should have meditated flight. 

The flight of the king and the royal family was arranged The at- 
with the greatest secrecy for the night of June 20. A fl^"]F/^j 
little less delay at the post stations, or a little more care 20, 1791. 



482 The Modern Period 

on the part of the king to keep himself in conceahiient, 
would have crowned the venture with success. But the 
king was recognized at Sainte Menehould, and a little 
farther on at Varennes, where the change of horses was 
accidentally prolonged, the travellers found themselves 
hemmed in by the mob, and arrested. A few days after 
their departure the fugitives were brought back to Paris as 
prisoners. 

Division of The flight of the king divided opinion in Paris sharply. 

opinion. 'Y^ j.]^g constitutional monarchists it gave their first inkling 

that they had gone too far, for a monarch was necessary 
to their constitutional fabric, and here they beheld their 
chosen monarch refusing to serve their plan. They began 
in consequence to exhibit suddenly for the captive and 
disarmed Louis a consideration which they had never ac- 
corded him in the days when he still had favors to dis- 
pense. The democrats, on the other hand, such as Danton 
and Robespierre, regarded the flight as a welcome jn-etext for 
proclaiming the republic. A struggle followed (July 17, 
1 791), the most ominous which Paris had yet witnessed; 
but the monarchists were still a majority, and by ordering 
out the National Guard against the rioters, won a victory. 

The king The Assembly, on hearing from the king that he had never 

reinstated. nieant to leave the soil of France, solemnly welcomed him 
back to office ; and Louis, in return, to mark his recon- 
ciliation with his subjects, accepted and swore to observe 

The Assem- the constitution. On September 30, 1791, the last ar- 

bly dis- tistic touches having been added to the constitution, the 

solves itself, * 

1791. assembly dissolved itself, and retired from the scene. Its 

strenuous labors of two years, from which the enthusiasts 

had expected the renovation of old Europe, culminated in 

the gift to the nation of the completed liberal constitution. 

The question now was : would the vaunted constitution at 

length inaugurate the prophesied era of peace and happiness? 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 483 



The Legislative Assembly (October i, lygi, to September 

21, I7g2). 

The answer to the above question would depend largely Inexperi- 
upon the First Legislative Assembly, which, elected on newlee-isfa- 
the basis of the new constitution, met the day after the ture. 
National Assembly adjourned. By a self-denying ordi- 
nance, characteristic of the mistaken magnanimity which 
pervaded the National Assembly, that body had voted the 
exclusion of its members from the Legislative Assembly. 
The seven hundred and forty-five new legislators of France 
were, therefore, all men without experience. That alone 
constituted a grave danger, which was still further in- 
creased by the fact that the prevailing type of member 
was that of the young enthusiast, who owed his political 
elevation to the oratorical vigor he had displayed in his 
local Jacobin Club. 

The dangerous disposition of the Assembly became ap- Republican- 
parent as soon as the members grouped themselves in par- 
ties. Only a small fraction, called the Feui Hants, under- 
took to support the constitution. The two most influential 
parties, the Gironde^ and the Mountain, 2 favored the 
establishment of a republic, and, from the first day, set de- 
liberately about destroying the monarchy. The stages 
by which they accomplished their work of ruin we need 
not here consider, but the supreme blow against the king 
was delivered when he was forced to declare war against 
Austria, and except for this declaration, which marks a 
new mile-stone in the Revolution, we can almost forget 
the Legislative Assembly entirely. 



ism of the 
assembly. 



' So called from the fact that the leaders of the party hailed from the 
department of the Gironde (Bordeaux). 

2 This party owes its name to the circumstance that its members took 
their seats in the Assembly upon the highest tiers of benches. 



484 



The Modern Period 



War 
against 
Austria, 
April 20, 
1792. 



The war 
destined to 
become gen- 
eral. 



French 
defeats. 



The declaration of war against Austria was the result of 
a variety of circumstances. In the first place, monarchical 
Europe, the natural head of which was the Emperor Leo- 
pold, the brother of Marie Antoinette, had begun to 
exhibit hostility to the Revolution ; then the French no- 
bility which had migrated and lived chiefly along the 
Rhine, where it was organized under the leadership of 
the count of Artois, brother of Louis XVL, exasperated 
the French by its threats of revenge; finally, the Gironde 
desired war in tlie expectation that war would overthrow 
the monarchy. The interaction of these various motives 
and circumstances, led the Assembly in an access of passion 
to declare war against Austria (April 20, 1792). 

Unfortunately, the capable Leopold had died a month 
before the declaration was made, and it was his incapable 
son, Francis IL (i 792-1835), who was called to do battle 
with the Revolution. But Leopold had before his death 
made some provision against the eventuality of war with 
France. In February, 1792, frightened by the dangers to 
the cause of monarchy lurking in the Revolution, he had 
persuaded Frederick William II. of Prussia to ally himself 
with him. The declaration of April 20 brought, therefore, 
not only Austria, but also Prussia, into the field. Thus 
began the revolutionary wars which were destined to 
carry the revolutionary ideas to the ends of the earth, to 
sweep away landmarks and traditions, and to lock old 
Europe in death-grapple with new France, for over twenty 
years. 

There can be no doubt that the republican Girondists, 
who were the real originators of the war, expected an easy 
victory. They saw, in a vision, the thrones of the tyrants 
shaking at the irresistible onset of the revolutionary ideas, 
and themselves hailed everywhere as the liberators of the 
human race. But the first engagement brought a sharp dis- 



Tlie French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 485 

appointment. The undisciplined French forces, at the 
mere approach of the Austrians, scampered away without 
risking a battle, and when the summer came it was known 
that the Austrians and Prussians together had begun the 
invasion of France. At this unexpected crisis wrath and 
terror filled the republicans in Paris. They began to whis- 
per the word treason, and soon their orators dared to de- 
nounce the king publicly, and in the vilest language, as the 
author of the French defeats. Every day brought the Prus- 
sian van nearer Paris ; every day added to the excitement 
of the frightened citizens. When the duke of Brunswick, 
the Prussian commander-in-chief, threatened, in a senseless ^ 
proclamation, to wreak vengeance on the capital, if but a 
hair of the king's head were injured, the seething pas- Blame put 
sion burst in a wave of uncontrollable fury. In the early °" *"^' 

morning of August 10, the mob, organized by the republi- 
can leaders, marched against the Tuileries to overthrow the 
man whom the orators had represented as in league with 
foreign despots against the common mother, France. 

With his regiment of Swiss mercenaries, who alone could 
be depended upon, Louis might have made a brave resist- 
ance. But he was not the man to be moved by a heroic 
impulse. If there had ever been one settled determination 
in his breast, it was that no French blood should flow for 
him in civil war. At eight o'clock in the morning, seeing August 10, 
that the mob was making ready to storm the palace, he ^'792- 
abandoned it to seek shelter in the Legislative Assembly. 
The Swiss guard, deserted by their leader, made a brave 
stand, and only on the king's express order gave up the 
Tuileries, and attempted to effect a retreat. But the odds 
were against them, and most of them were butchered in the 
streets. 

Meanwhile the Assembly was engaged in putting its offi- 
cial seal to the verdict of the mob. With Louis himself 



486 



The Modern Period 



Break-down 
of the mon- 
archy and 
the constitu 
tion. 



The govern- 
ment in the 
hands of the 
dema- 
gogues. 



The Moun- 
tain defends 
France. 



present, the members voted the suspension of the king, and 
ordered the election of a National Convention to consider 
the basis of a new constitution. The present Assembly was 
to hold over till September 2 1 , the day when the new body 
was ordered to meet. Thus perished, after an existence of 
ten months, the constitution which had been trumpeted 
forth as the final product of the human intellect. 

The suspension of the king left the government legally 
in the hands of the Legislative Assembly and of the ministry 
which the Assembly appointed. But as the capital was in 
the hands of the mob and the machinery of government 
paralyzed, it was found impossible to keep the real power 
from falling into the hands of the demagogues, who, on 
August 10, had had the courage to strike down the king. 
These victorious demagogues were identical with the Moun- 
tain party in the Assembly, and with the "patriots," who 
had just possessed themselves, by means of violence, of the 
city council or commune. The most prominent figures of 
this dread circle were Danton, Marat, and Robespierre, and 
these and their henchmen were the feal sovereigns of France 
during the interlude from August 10, the day of the over- 
throw of the monarchy, to September 2 1 , the day of the 
meeting of the National Convention. 

It was plain that the first need of France in this crisis 
was to beat back the invasion. The Mountain, therefore, 
made itself the champion of the national defence. The 
fatherland was declared in danger ; all occupations ceased 
but those which provided for the necessaries of life and 
furnished weapons of defence; finally, the whole male pop- 
ulation was invited to enlist. Whatever we may think of 
this system of government by violence and frenzied enthu- 
siasm, it certainly accomplished its end: it put an army 
into the field composed of men who were ready to die, and 
so saved France. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 487 

Slowly the republican recruits checked the Prussian ad- Prussians 
vance. Finally, on September 20, General Kellermann valmv Sen- 
inflicted a defeat upon the Prussians at Valmy, whereupon tember, 
King Frederick William lost courage, and gave the order '^ 
to retreat. A few weeks later not a Prussian was left upon 
French soil. 

This really great achievement of the radical democrats The Sep- 
was unfortunately marred by a succession of frightful crimes, gacre" Sen' 
To understand why these were perpetrated, we must once tember 2, 3, 
again picture to ourselves the state of France. The country ^° ^* 
was in anarchy ; the power in the hands of a few men, reso- 
lute to save their country. They were a thoroughly un- 
scrupulous band, the Dantons, the Marats, and their col- 
leagues, and since they could not afford to be disturbed in 
their work of equipping armies by local risings among the 
supporters of the king, they resolved to cow the constitution- 
alists, still perhaps a majority, by a system of terror. They 
haled to the prisons all to whom the suspicion of being de- 
voted to the king attached, and in the early days of Septem- 
ber they emptied the crowded prisons again by a deliberate 
massacre of the inmates. An armed band of assassins, re- 
gularly hired by the municipality, made the round of the 
prisons, and in the course of three days dispatched about 
two thousand helpless victims. Not a hand was raised to 
stop the hideous proceedings. Paris, to all appearances, 
looked on, stupefied. 

The National Convention {September 21, 17Q2, to October 

26, I79S)- 
This short interlude of government by terror came to an France 
end temporarily when the National Convention met (Sep- reoublk ^ 
tember 21) and assumed control. The first act of this 
body was to declare the monarchy abolished. As the de- 
feat of the Prussians at Valmy, which occurred about this 



488 The Modern Period 

time, was followed soon after by the repulse of the Aus- 
trians from the walls of Lille, France was freed from all 
immediate danger from without. Thus the Convention 
could turn its attention to internal affairs. 
TheGironde In the precarious condition in which France then found 
and the herself, everything depended upon the composition of the 

new governing body. It was made up of almost eight 
hundred members, all republicans; but they were republi- 
cans of various degrees of thoroughness. There were the 
two parties of the Gironde and the Mountain, known to us 
from the Legislative Assembly ; and between them, voting 
sometimes with the Gironde, sometimes with the Mountain, 
but definitely attached to neither, was the Plain. The 
Girondists dreamed of a new Utopia, which was to be 
straightway realized by legislation ; they wished to end the 
l^eriod of murders, and thus wipe away the stains which 
were beginning to attach to the name of liberty. The 
Mountainists were men of a more fierce and practical 
mood ; they thought primarily of saving France from the 
foreigners, and were willing to sacrifice liberty itself to 
further that great end. 

That the chasm between the Gironde and Mountain was 

absolutely unbridgeable was exhibited on the Convention's 

Trial and taking up the trial of the king, who, ever since August 

death of the ^^ j^^^ been confined with his family in the prison of 

king. Jan- ' -' ' 

uary 2i, the Temple. In December the deposed monarch was sum- 

^'^^" moned before the bar of the Convention. The Girondists 

were anxious to save his life; but the Mountainists, backed 
by the threats of the mob, carried the Convention with 
them, and the citizen Louis Capet, once Louis XVI., was 
condemned to death. On January 21, 1793, he was exe- 
cuted by the guillotine. 

The execution of the king raised a storm of indignation 
over Europe, and a great coalition, which every state of 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 489 

importance joined, sprang to life for the purpose of punish- The first 

iwii the regicides of the Convention. Thus the war with ^°^-* ^?" 
D ° against 

Austria and Prussia promised to assume immense propor- France, 
tions in the coming year, and under these circumstances, 
the question of the defence of French soil became again, 
as it had been in the summer of 1792, the supreme question 
of the hour. It was plain that, in order to meet her ene- 
mies, who were advancing from every point of the com- 
pass, France would be required to display an almost super- 
human vigor. 

The new crisis quickly developed the animosities between Overthrow 
Gironde and Mountain into implacable hatred. There can p- j 
be no doubt that both sides were equally patriotic, but it 
was not now primarily a question of patriotism between 
them, but of the most practical means for meeting the 
threatening invasions. The philosophers of the Gironde 
insisted on presenting moral scruples, on spinning out end- 
less debates ; and because the case would not wait upon 
scruple or debate, the fanatics of the Mountain resolved to 
strike their rivals down. Mobs were regularly organized 
by Marat to invade the Convention, and howl at its bar 
for the heads of the Girondist leaders. Finally, on June 
2, 1793, thirty-one of them, among whom were the brill- 
iant orators Vergniaud, Brissot, and Gensonne, were de- 
clared under arrest. 

The fall of the mild-mannered Girondists meant the re- 
moval of the last check upon the ferocity of the Mountain. 
The government now lay in its hands to use as it would, 
and the most immediate end of government, the Moun- The Moun- 
tain had always maintained, was the salvation of France nrpmp 
from her enemies. To accomplish that great purpose, the 
Mountain now deliberately returned to the successful sys- 
tem of the summer of 1792 — the system of terror. The 
phase of the Revolution, which is historically famous as the 



490 The Modern Period 

Reign of Terror (La Terreur) — it may profitably be called 
the Long Reign of Terror in order to distinguish it from 
the Short Reign of Terror of August and September, 1792 
— begins on June 2, with the expulsion from the Conven- 
tion of the moderate element, represented by the Gironde. 

The Reign of Terror {June 2, ijgj, to July 27, iyg4). 

The Com- The Short Reign of Terror of the summer of 1792 was 

p'brc° marked by two conspicuous features: first, an energetic 

Safety. defence of the French soil, and, secondly, a bloody re- 

pression of the opposition elements in Paris. The Long 
Reign of Terror reproduces these elements developed into' 
a system. What is more likely to secure an energetic de- 
fence than a strong executive? The Mountain, therefore, 
created a committee of twelve, called the Committee of 
Public Safety, to which it intrusted an almost unlimited 
executive power. As the most conspicuous, though cer- 
tainly not the most capable figure of this committee was 
Robespierre, the rule of the Committee of Public Safety is 
generally identified in people's minds with his name. 

The executive having been thus provided for, it remained 
to systematize the repression of the anti -revolutionary ele- 
The machin- ments. The machinery of the Terror, as this system- 
^y of the atization may be called, presented, on its completion, the 
following constituents : First, there was the Law of the 
Suspects. By this unique measure the authorities were 
authorized to imprison any and every body who was de- 
nounced to them as " suspect." The iniquitous Law of the 
Suspects soon taxed the prisons to the utmost. To empty 
them was the function of the second element of the terror- 
ist machinery, called the Revolutionary Tribunal. This 
was a special court of justice, created for the purpose of 
trying the suspects with security and dispatch. At first 
the Revolutionary Tribunal adhered to certain legal forms. 



Robes 
pierre. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 491 

but gradually it sacrificed every consideration to the de- 
mand of speed. The time came when prisoners were haled 
before this court in companies, and condemned to death 
with no more ceremony than the reading of their names. 
There then remained for the luckless victims the third and 
last step in the process of the Terror ; they were carted 
to an open square, called the Square of the Revolution, 
and amidst staring and hooting mobs, who congregated to 
the spectacle every day, as to a feast, their heads fell under 
the stroke of the guillotine. 

Before the Terror had well begun, one of its prime in- Marat and 
stigators, Marat, was overtaken by a merited fate. Marat rnrdav ^ 
was the mouth-piece of the utterly ragged and abject ele- 
ment of Paris. His savage thirst for blood had aroused 
the aversion of all decent people, and finally awakened in 
the breast of a beautiful and noble-minded girl of Nor- 
mandy, Charlotte Corday, the passionate desire to rid her 
country of this monster. On July 13, 1793, she succeeded 
in forcing an entrance into his house, and stabbed him in 
his bath . She knew that the act meant her own death ; 
but her exaltation did not desert her for a moment, and 
she passed to the guillotine a few days after the deed with 
the sustained calm of a martyr. 

The dramatic incidents associated with so many illus- Death of 
trious victims of the Terror can receive only scant justice f^-^'^^f*. q 
here. In October, Marie Antoinette was summoned be- tober, 1793. 
fore the Revolutionary Tribunal. A number of untenable 
charges were trumped up against her by the prosecuting 
attorney; she met them with noble dignity, and on receiv- 
ing her death-verdict, mounted the scaffold with all the 
stanchness befitting a daughter of the Caesars.' 

1 Marie Antoinette left two children, a princess of fifteen years, and the 
dauphin, Louis, aged eight. The princess was released in 1795, but be- 
fore that mercy could be extended to the boy, he had died under the in- 



492 The Modern Period 

The duke of Another victim was the duke of Orleans, perhaps the 

eans. niost despicable character of the Revolution. He was 

head of the secondary branch of the House of Bourbon, 

but he had deserted the cause of monarchy and had sunk 

so low as even to vote for the death of his relative the king. 

Madame A person of a very different type was Madame Roland, 

Koiand. ^^.j^^ ^^^ animated with the vague and generous republican 

enthusiasm which we know to have been the characteristic 

possession of the Girondists. To this party she had been 

naturally drawn, and, because of her intimacy with it, she 

was compelled to mount the scaffold. 

But the rule of the Terror was, perforce, exceptional. 
Disruption Sooner or later there was bound to occur a division among 
inevi^table^^'^ ^^^ supporters, and when division came the terrorists were 
sure to rage against each other, as they had once raged in 
common against the aristocrats. And in the autumn of 
1793, unmistakable signs of the disintegration of the party 
of the Terror began to appear. The most radical wing, 
which owed its strength to its hold on the government of 
the city of Paris, and which followed the lead of one He- 
bert, had turned its particular animosity against the Catho- 
lic faith. To replace this ancient cult, despised as aristo- 
cratic, there was proclaimed the religion of Reason ; and, 
finally, in order to hurry the victory of this novel faith, the 
Hebertists in the municipality decreed the closure of all 
End of the ])laces of worship in Paris. As this ultra-revolutionary 
Hebertists, ^ ^^,^ ^^^^^ ^^ alienate the affections of the sincere be- 

IVl arrh Jlr\A ' 

lievers, who were still very numerous, Robespierre took 
the earliest opportunity to denounce Hebert and his whole 
ilk before the Jacobins. Finally, in March, 1794, the last 



March, 1794. 



human treatment of his jailers. The systematic torturing to death of the 
poor daupliin, who is reckoned as Louis XVII., is one of the most hide- 
ous blots upon the Revolution. 



The French Rcvohition and Era of Napoleon 493 

thread of his patience having snapped, he abruptly ordered 
the whole atheistic band to the guillotine. 

The overthrow of Hebert was followed by that of Dan- 
ton and his friends, although for an altogether different 
reason. No man had done more than Danton to establish 
the reign of the Mountain. A titanic nature, with a claim 
to real statesmanship, he had exercised a decisive influence 
in more than one great crisis ; France had primarily him 
to thank for her rescue from the Prussians in the summer 
of 1792. But now he was growing weary. The uninter- 
rupted flow of blood disgusted him, and he raised his voiqe 
in behalf of mercy. Mercy, to Robespierre and his young 
follower the arch-fanatic. Saint Just, was nothing less than 
treason, and in sudden alarm at Danton's " moderation," 
they hurried him and his friends to the guillotine (April 
5, 1794). Thus Robespierre was rid of his last rival. No End of the 
wonder that it was now whispered abroad that he was plan- AnrU T^ol' 
ning to make himself dictator. 

And between Robespierre and a dictatorship there stood, 

in the spring of 1794, only one thing — his own political 

incapacity. That he had the Jacobins, the municipality 

of Paris, the Convention, and the Committee of Public 

Safety in his hands was proved by their servile obedience Robes- 

to his slightest nod. On May 7th he, the deist, who bor- P'^^''^ 

^ J I ' supreme. 

rowed his faith, as he borrowed his politics, from the writ- 
ings of Jean Jacques Rousseau, had the satisfaction of 
wresting from the Convention a supreme decree. Thereby 
the worship of Reason, advocated by the atheists, was over- 
thrown, and the Convention declared that the French 
people recognized a Supreme Being and the immortality of 
the soul ; and on June 8, 1794, the ludicrous religion of Introduces 
the Supreme Being was inaugurated by a splendid festival, ^^^ religion 
at which Robespierre himself officiated as high priest. Supreme 
Two days later, he showed in what spirit he interpreted ^^'"S- 



494 ^^^'^ Modern Period 

his new spiritual function, for he succeeded, by regular 
decree, in having the Revolutionary Tribunal stripped 
of its last vestiges of legal form (June to). Now only it 
was that the executions in Paris began in a really wholesale 
manner. During the forty-five days before the reorgani- 
zation of the Tribunal, the numbers of those guillotined in 
Paris amounted to 577 ; during the forty-five days after its 
adoption, the victims reached the frightful figure of 1,356. 
No government office, no service rendered on the battle- 
field secured immunity from arrest and death. At last, the 
Terror gathered like a cloud over the Convention itself, 
and, paralyzed by fear, that body submitted for a time to 
the unnatural situation. But when the uncertainty con- 
nected with living perpetually under a threat of death had 
become intolerable, the opponents of Robespierre banded 
together in order to crush him. With his immense foUow- 
Fall of ing among the people he could doubtless have anticipated 

Robes- 1^1 enemies, but instead of acting, he preferred to harangue 

pierre, 9th ' o' 1 o 

Thermidor. and denounce. On the 9th of Thermidor (July 27), • he 
and his adherents were outlawed by the Convention and 
executed the next day. 

T/ic Rule of the Thennidorians {July 2J, I7g4, to October 

26, I7QS)- 
The fall of Robespierre put an end to the Terror, not so 
much because he had created it, but because the system 



' The Convention, guided by its hatred of the royalist past, had intro- 
duced a new system of time reckoning. Since the birdi of the Republic 
was regarded as more important than the Ijirth of Christ, September 22, 
1792, the first day of the Republic was voted the beginning of a new era. 
The whole Christian calendar was at the same time declared to be tainted 
with aristocracy, and a new calendar devised. The chief feature of the 
new revolutionary calendar was the invention of new names for the 
months, such as : Nivose, Snow month ; Pluviose, Rain month ; Ventose, 
"Winil month, for the winter months. Germinal, Budding month ; Flo- 
real, Flower month ; Prairial, Meadow month, for the spring months, etc. 

It is worthy of notice that the Convention introduced one change which 
has become popular. It supplanted the old and complicated system of 
weights and measures by the metrical system. 



counsels. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 495 

had, after a year of frightful ravages, become thoroughly 

discredited, and further, because the Thermidorians, many 

of whom had been the most active promoters of the Terror, Return to 

were politic enough to bow to the force of circumstances. °^ 

They therefore heaped all the blame for the past year on the 

dead Robespierre, and impudently assumed the character of 

life-long lovers of rule and order. Slowly the bourgeoisie 

recovered its courage, and rallied to the support of the 

Thermidorian party; finally, a succession of concerted blows The Ther- 

swept the fragments of the Terror from the face of France.. dest*roTthe 

The municipality of Paris, the citadel of the rioters, was dis- instruments 

solved ; the Revolutionary Tribunal dispersed ; the func- terror 

tions of the Committee of Public Safety restricted ; and, to 

make victory sure, the Jacobin Club, the old hearth of dis- ^ 

order, was closed. During the next year — the last of its 

long lease of power — the Convention ruled France in full 

accord with the moderate opinion of the majority of the 

citizens. 

But if the Terror fell, its overthrow was due also to the Progress of 
fact that it had accomplished its end. Its excuse, as we have 
seen, was the danger of France, and whatever else be. said 
of it, it had really succeeded in defending France against the 
forces of a tremendous coalition. On this defence the reader 
must now bestow a rapid glance. In the campaign of 1793 
the French had just about held their own, but, in 1794, the 
splendid power of organization exhibited by Carnot, the 
military expert of the Committee of Public Safety, and his 
gift for picking out young talent, enabled the revolution- 
ary army to carry the war into the territory of the enemy. 
In the course of this year Jourdan's army conquered Bel- 
gium, and shortly after Pichegru occupied Holland. Bel- 
gium, as a part of the Austrian dominions, was quickly 
annexed to France, but Holland was merely modelled, after 
the example of France, into the Batavian Republic, and, for 



the war. 



49^ 



The Modern Period 



Peace with 
Prussia and 
Spain, 1795. 



The Con- 
vention 
completes 
its constitu- 
tion. 



Bonaparte 
protects the 
Convention, 
October, 
1795. 



The Consti- 
tution of the 
year III. 



the present, confirmed in its independence (1795). These 
astonishing victories prepared the disruption of the coali- 
tion, and as the Thermidorians, for their part, had no de- 
sire to continue the war forever, they entered, on receiving 
information of the favorable disposition of Prussia and 
Spain, into negotiations with these governments, and in the 
spring of 1795 concluded peace with them at Basle. By 
these treaties the position of France was made very much 
more simple ; of the great powers, England and Austria 
alone were now left in the field against her. 

Meanwhile, the Convention had taken up the long-neg- 
lected task for which it had been summoned : in the course 
of the year 1795 it comi)leted a new constitution for re- 
publican France. This constitution was all ready to be pro- 
mulgated, when, in October, the Convention had to meet 
one more assault of tlie lawless elements. But somewhat 
more courageous of late it resolved to defend itself, and in- 
trusted the task to a committee, which in turn entrusted 
it to a young officer, present in Paris by chance. Napoleon 
Bonaparte. This young officer had already creditably dis- 
tinguished himself at Toulon, and wanted nothing better 
than this opportunity. When the mob marched against 
the Convention on October 5, young Bonaparte received 
them with such a volley of grape-shot, that they fled precip- 
itately, leaving hundreds of their comrades dead upon the 
pavement. It was a new way of treating the Parisian mob, 
and it had its effect. Henceforth, in the face of such 
resolution, the mob lost taste for the dictation which it had 
exercised unquestioned for six years. Thus the appearance 
on the scene of Bonaparte and his soldiers meant the dawn 
of a new era of order. 

The Convention could now perform its remaining busi- 
ness without fear. On October 26 it dissolved itself, and 
the new constitution went immediately into effect. This 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 497 

constitution is called the Constitution of the year III., from 
the year of the republican calendar in which it was com- 
pleted. It established an executive of five members, called 
the Directory, while it entrusted the legislative functions to 
two houses — a significant departure from the constitution 
of 1 79 1, the single legislative house of which had proved 
a failure — called, respectively, the Council of Five Hundred 
and the Council of the Ancients. 

The Directory (//pj-pp). 

The Directory wished to signalize its accession to power The Direc- 

by a brilliant victory over the remaining enemies of France °^J^:^"^ * 
■' ■' ° campaign 

— England and Austria. But an attack upon England was, against 
because of the lack of a fleet, out of the question. With 
Austria, the case was different, and Austria the Directory 
now resolved to strike with the combined armies of France. 
In accordance with this purpose, "the organizer of victory," 
Carnot, who was one of the Directors, worked out a plan 
by which the Austrians were to be attacked simultaneously 
in Germany and Italy. Two splendid armies under Jour- 
dan and Moreau were assigned to the German task, which 
was regarded as by far the more important, while the Italian 
campaign, undertaken as a mere diversion, was intrusted 
to a shabbily equipped army of 30,000 men, which was put 
under the command of the defender of the Convention, 
General Bonaparte. But by the mere force of his genius, 
Bonaparte upset completely the calculations of the Direc- 
tory, and gave his end of the campaign such importance 
that he, and not Jourdan or Moreau, decided the war. 

Bonaparte's task was to beat, with his army, an army of Bonaparte 
Piedmontese and Austrians twice as large. Because of the VIqa 
superiority of the combined forces of the enemy, he natu- 
rally resolved to meet the Piedmontese and Austrians sepa- 
rately. Everything in this plan depended on quickness, 



498 



The Modern Period 



The Peace 
of Campo 
Formio, 
1797. 



Bonaparte 
creates two 
republics in 
Italy. 



and it was now to appear that quickness was Bonaparte's 
great military merit. Before the snows had melted from 
the mountains, he arrived unexpectedly before the gates of 
Turin, and wrested a peace from the king of Sardinia-Pied- 
mont, by the terms of which this old enemy of France had 
to surrender Savoy and Nice (May, 1796). Then Bona- 
parte turned against the Austrians, and before May was over, 
he had driven them out of Lombardy. The Pope and the 
small princes, in alarm, hastened to buy peace of France by 
the cession of territories and of works of art, while the 
Austrians tried again and again to recover their lost posi- 
tion. But at Areola (November, 1796) and Rivoli (Jan- 
uary, 1797), Bonaparte, by his astonishing alertness, beat 
signally the forces sent against him. Then he crossed the 
Alps to dictate terms under the walls of Vienna. 

This sudden move of Bonaparte's determined the emperor 
Francis II. to sue for peace, and out of the negotiations 
which ensued there grew the Treaty of Campo Formio 
(October, 1797). By this Treaty Austria ceded her Bel- 
gian provinces to France, recognized the French political 
creations in Italy, and promised to use her influence to get 
the empire to accept the principle of the Rhine boundary. 
In return for these concessions, she received from France 
the republic of Venice, which Bonaparte had just occupied. 

The French political creations in Italy which Austria 
recognized by the Peace of Campo Formio were the per- 
sonal work of Bonaparte, having been established by him 
out of the conquests of the war. They were the Cisalpine 
republic, identical, in the main, with the old Austrian 
province of Lombardy, and the Ligurian republic, evolved 
from the old republic of Genoa. Both these republics 
were modelled upon the republic of France, and were 
made entirely dependent upon their prototype. 

When Bonaparte returned to France he was greeted as 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 499 

the national hero, for he had at last given France the peace Bonaparte 

which she had been so long desiring. And while renewing p ^ ° 

peaceful relations between her and the Continent, he had 

won for her terms more favorable than her greatest monarch 

had ever dreamt of. A man who had in a single campaign 

so distinguished himself and his country naturally stood, 

from now on, at the centre of affairs. 

That Napoleon Bonaparte should obtain a position of Bonaparte's 
pre-eminence in France, before he had reached the age of 
thirty, would never have been prophesied by the friends 
of his youth. He was born on the island of Corsica on 
August 15, 1769. It so happened that at the time of his 
birth, France, which had just obtained this Italian island by 
cession from the small state of Genoa, was engaged in es- 
tablishing her rule there, and though the Corsicans resisted 
this act of aggression, they had in the end to yield. One 
curious consequence of this struggle between the French 
and the Corsicans was, that the boy Napoleon learned to 
detest the French so bitterly that he was dominated by this 
hatred throughout the period of his early manhood. Only 
very gradually did he make his peace with the conquering 
nation, and chiefly through the agency of the French Rev- 
olution. The French Revolution opened a career for 
talent, and thus enabled him, who had adopted the military 
profession, to rise rapidly from grade to grade, and satisfy 
his passionate dream of ambition. It was only when Bona- 
parte had been seduced by the opportunities extended by 
revolutionary France, that he consented to forget his native 
land. First at the siege of Toulon, and then at Paris, he 
had won distinction. Now the Peace of Campo Formio 
lifted him head and shoulders above all rivals. 

With the continent at peace with France, the Direc- England 
tory had cause to congratulate itself. It had beaten down ^ ? j^ *" 
all the enemies of France with the exception of Eng- 



500 



The Modern Period 



England 
attacked in 

Egypt, 

1798. 



Battle of 
Abukir Bay. 



The failure 
of the 
Egyptian 
campaign. 



land, but England still showed no disposition to yield to 
the Republic. 

Therefore, in the year 1798, the Directory planned 
against England a great action in order to bring her to 
terms. As the lack of a fleet put a direct attack upon the 
island-kingdom, now as ever, out of the question, it was 
resolved to strike England indirectly, by threatening her 
colonies. With due secrecy an expedition was prepared 
at Toulon, and Bonaparte given the command. Nelson, 
the English admiral, was, of course, on the watch, but 
Bonaparte succeeded in evading his vigilance, and in May, 
1 798, set out for Egypt. Egypt was a province of Turkey ; 
since then, as now, it was the key to the Orient, Bonaparte 
by establishing himself on the Nile, could threaten the con- 
nection of England with India and the East. It was for this 
reason that Nelson immediately gave chase when he got 
wind of Bonaparte's movements, and although he arrived 
too late to hinder the French from landing near Alexan- 
dria, he just as effectually ruined the French expedition, by 
attacking the French fleet on August i, at Al)ukir Bay, 
and destroying it utterly. Bonaparte might now go on 
conquering Egypt and all Africa — he was shut off from 
Europe and as good as imprisoned with his whole army. 

Thus the Egyi)tian campaign was lost before it had fairly 
begun. Napoleon could blind his soldiers to the fact but he 
hardly blinded himself. Of course he did what he could to 
retriev'e the disaster to his fleet, and by his brilliant victory 
over the Egyptian soldiery, the Mamelukes, in the battle 
of the Pyramids (1798), he made himself master of the 
basin of the Nile. The next year he marched to Syria. 
The seaport of Acre, which he besieged in order to estab- 
lish communication with France, repulsed his attack ; the 
plague decimated his brave troops. Sick at heart Bona- 
parte returned to Egypt, and despairing of a change in his 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 501 

fortunes, suddenly resolved to leave his army. On Aug- 
ust 22, 1799, he contrived to run the English blockade, 
and on October 9 he landed with a few friends at Frejus. 
Though the army he had abandoned was irretrievably lost/ 
that fact was forgotten amid the rejoicings with which the 
conqueror of Italy was received in France. 

The enthusiastic welcome of France, which turned Bona- The Second 

,,. ..r)--^ i.- 11 Coalition, 

parte s journey to Fans into a triumphal procession, was j^_g i^gg, 

due partially to the unexpected reverses which the Direc- 
tory had suffered during the young general's absence. 
Bonaparte was hardly known to have been shut up in 
Egypt, when Europe, hopeful of shaking off the French 
ascendancy, formed a new coalition against the warlike 
republic. Austria and Russia, supported by English 
money, renewed the continental war, and the year 1798 
was marked by a succession of victories which swept the 
French out of Italy and Germany. 

No wonder that the hopes of the nation gathered around Napoleon, 
the dashing military leader. What other French general saviour, 

had exhibited such genius as Bonaparte, had won such 
glory for himself and France? Besides the executive of 
the five Directors, unable to maintain even the show of 
harmony, was beginning to lose its grip. So evidently had 
disorder set in that the royalists came out of their hiding- 
places, and negotiated openly about the return of the le- 
gitimate king. In short, in October, 1799, France was 
in such confusion that everybody turned spontaneously to 
Bonaparte as toward a saviour. 

Bonaparte was hardly apprized of this state of public Bonaparte 

opinion, when he resolved to overthrow the government, overthrows 

. . ° the Direc- 

The only resistance which he encountered was from the tory, 1799. 

Chamber of Five Hundred, and that body was overcome 



' The army surrendered to the English a year later. 



502 



The Modern Period 



Bonaparte 
gives 
France a 
new consti- 
tution. 



Napoleon 
again in 
Italy. 



by the use of military force. The ease with which Bona- 
parte executed the coup d'etat of November 9, 1799 (i8th 
Brumaire), proves that the Constitution of Year III. was 
dead in spirit, before he destroyed it in fact. 

The Consulate {1799 to 18 04). 

Bonaparte was now free to set up a new constitution, in 
which an important place would be assured to himself. 
Rightly he divined that what France needed and desired 
was a strong executive, for ten years of anarchic liberty 
had prepared the people for the renewal of despotism. 
Thus the result of Bonaparte's deliberations with his friends 
was the Consular Constitution, by which the government 
was practically concentrated in the hands of one official, 
called the First Consul. Of course, the appearances of 
popular government were preserved. The legislative func- 
tions were delegated to two bodies, the Tribunate and the 
Legislative Body, but as the former discussed bills without 
voting upon them, and the latter merely voted upon them 
without discussing them, their power was so divided that 
they necessarily lost all influence. Without another coup 
d'etat, by means of a simple change of title, the Consul 
Bonaparte could, when he saw fit, evolve himself into the 
Emperor Napoleon. 

But for the present, there was more urgent business on 
hand, for, as France was at war with the Second Coalition, 
there was work to be done in the field. The opportune 
withdrawal of Russia, before the beginning of the campaign, 
again limited the enemies of France to England and Aus- 
tria. The situation was, therefore, analogous to that of 
1796, and the First Consul resolved to meet it by an anal- 
ogous plan. Concentrating his attention upon Austria, he 
sent Moreau against her into Germany, while he himself 
went to meet her, as once before, in Italy. By a dramatic 



TJic French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 5^3 



march in the early spring over the Great St. Bernard Pass, 
he was enabled to strike unexpectedly across the Austrian 
line of retreat, and to force the enemy to make a stand. 
In the Battle of Marengo, which followed (June 14, 1800), 
he crushed the Austrians, and recovered all Italy at a stroke. 
Again Francis II. had to admit the invincibility of French 
arms. In the Peace of Luneville (1801), he reconfirmed 
all the cessions made at Campo Formio, and as the empire 
became a party to the Peace of Luneville, there was no 
flaw this time in the cession of the left bank of the Rhine. 
It is this feature of the Rhine boundary which gives the 
Peace of Luneville its importance. As the Peace, further- 
more, re-delivered Italy into Bonaparte's hands, to do with 
as he pleased, he now re-established the Cisalpine and 
Ligurian Republics in their old dependence upon France. 

Again, as in 1798, the only member of the coalition 
which held out against France, was England. How hum- 
ble the great sea-power? Bonaparte's naval power was as 
inadequate now as ever, and, in no case, did he have any 
desire to renew the Egyptian experiment. Being at the 
end of his resources, he opened negotiations with the cabi- 
net at London, and in March, 1802, concluded with Eng- 
land, on the basis of mutual restitutions, the Peace of 
Amiens. 

France was now, after ten years of fighting, at peace with 
the whole world. The moment was auspicious, but it re- 
mained to be seen whether she could accumulate the 
strength within, and inspire the confidence without, which 
would enable her to make the year 1802 the starting-point 
of a new development. 

Certainly Bonaparte showed no want of vigor I'n engag- 
ing in the tasks of peace, although even a strong man might 
have been discouraged by the chaotic aspect of the country. 
It is not too much to say, that in consequence of the whole- 



Peace of 

Luneville, 

1801. 



The Rhine 
boundary. 



Peace of 

Amiens, 

1802. 



France at 
peace with 
the world. 



Bonaparte 
undertakes 
the recon- 
struction of 
France. 



504 



The Modern Period 



A central- 
ized admin- 
istration. 



Reconcilia- 
tion with 
the Church, 
1801. 



sale destruction and careless experimentation of the last de- 
cade, there was not, when Bonaparte assumed power, a 
principle nor an institution of government which stood 
unimpaired. The work before the First Consul during the 
interval of peace which followed the treaties of Luneville 
and Amiens was, therefore, nothing less than the recon- 
struction of the whole of France. But this reconstructive 
labor Bonaparte now undertook, and a good deal of it 
survives to this day, constituting his best title to fame. 

First to consider is Bonaparte's system of administration. 
The internal administration of France had, during the last 
ten years, fallen into complete anarchy. To remedy the 
disorder in the departments, Napoleon invented a system 
of prefects and sub-prefects, who, appointed directly by 
himself, ruled the department like so many "little first 
consuls." This meant, ofcour.se, the abandonment of the 
ideas of self-government developed by the Revolution, but 
it meant also order, and that was all the people wanted for 
the present. 

Next Nai)oleon gave back to France her religion and her 
Church. The Revolution had consistently antagonized 
the Catholic Church ; it had confiscated its property, and 
bad attempted to make its ministers officials of the state. 
Napoleon knew that the restoration of the Church would 
win him the gratitude of the people, and, therefore, soon 
after his advent to power he opened negotiations with the 
Pope which ended in a peace called the Concordat (1801). 
P.y the terms of the Concordat, the Church, on the one 
hand, resigned its claims to its confiscated possessions, but 
the state, in return, assumed the maintenance, on a liberal 
basis, of the priests and bishops. Besides, the government 
reserved to itself the nomination of these latter. Thus the 
Church was re-established, but in very close dependence on 
the state. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 505 

But Bonaparte's greatest creation was the reconstruction Return of 
of the French courts and laws effected by the Code Na- •'^f^'^^y 
poleon. The juridical confusion reigning in France, before Napoleon. 
the Revolution, is indescribable. By the Code Napoleon 
(1804), all France received a common book of laws and at 
common system of justice, whereby the handling of law- 
suits was made rapid, cheap, and reliable. No labor of a 
similar degree of perfection had been performed since the 
great codification of Roman laws under the Emperor 
Justinian. 

If Bonaparte had sincerely attached himself to the policy 
of peace, heralded by the above creations, it is not im- 
probable that he would have succeeded in consolidating the 
results of the Revolution. But the works of peace and 
the duties of a civil magistrate could not long satisfy his 
boundless hunger for action and his love of glory, which 
led him to aspire to the splendor of a conqueror like Alex- 
ander, or to the majesty of an emperor of the sway of Au- 
gustus. In 1802 he had himself elected consul for life. Napoleon 
The step brought him within view of the throne, and in ^^°^"ir 
May, 1804, he dropped the last pretence of republicanism, emperor 
and had himself proclaimed emperor of the French. Fi- i iSoT^ 
nally, in December of the same year, amidst ceremonies 
recalling the glories of Versailles, he crowned himself and 
his wife Josephine at the Church of Notre Dame, at Paris. 

The Empire {1804 to 181^). 

The change of France, from a republic to a monarchy, 
naturally affected the circle of subject-republics with which 
she had surrounded herself. Their so-called "freedom" 
had been the gift of France, and could not logically stand 
when France herself had surrended hers. At a nod from 
Napoleon, the Batavian Republic now changed itself into 
the Kingdom of Holland, and thankfully accepted Louis 



5o6 



The Modern Period 



Napoleon 
king of 
Italy, May, 
1805. 



Renewal of 
the warwith 
England. 



The Third 
Coalition. 



Austerlitz, 
1805. 



Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, for king. In like manner, 
the Cisalpine Rei)uLlic became the Kingdom of Italy ; but 
in Italy, Napoleon himself assumed the power, and in May, 
1805, was formally crowned king of Italy at Milan. 

Even before these momentous changes, the confidence 
with which the European governments had first greeted 
Napoleon had vanished. Slowly they began to divine in 
him the insatiable conqueror, who was only awaiting an 
opportunity to swallow them all. As early as 1803 con- 
tinued chicaneries between him and England had led to a 
renewal of the war. Napoleon now prepared a great naval 
armament at Boulogne, and for a year, at least, England 
was agitated by the prospect of a descent upon her coasts; 
but the lack of an adequate fleet made Napoleon's project 
chimerical from the first, and in the summer of 1805 he 
unreservedly gave it up. 

He gave it up because England had succeeded in arrang- 
ing with Austria and Russia a new coalition (the third). 
No sooner had Napoleon got wind of the state of affairs, 
than he abandoned his quixotic English expedition, and 
threw himself upon the practical task of defeating his con- 
tinental enemies. At Austerlitz, in Moravia, he inflicted a 
decisive defeat upon the combined Austrians and Russians 
(December 2, 1805). Again Emperor Francis II. was re- 
duced to bow down before the invincible Corsican, and at 
the Peace of Pressburg (December 26, 1805) he gave up 
Venice, which was incorporated with the Kingdom of Italy, 
and the Tyrol, which was incorporated with Bavaria. At 
the same time, the small South German States, Bavaria and 
AVurtemberg, were recognized as kingdoms. 

This last provision of the Peace of Pressburg made a full 
revelation of Napoleon's German policy ; clearly he wished 
to increase the lesser states of Germany to the point where 
they could neutralize the power of the two great states, Aus- 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 507 

tria and Prussia. For this reason he lavished favors upon 
them, and made them so dependent upon his will, that they 
could offer no resistance when he proposed to them the 
idea of a new political union. This union was the Con- Napoleon 
federation of the Rhine, which all the important German r^onfedera- 
states, with the exception of Austria and Prussia, agreed tionofthe 
finally to join. Napoleon himself assuming the guidance of * ^' ° ' 
it, under the name of Protector (1806). 

Naturally the Confederation of the Rhine effected a revo- 
lution in the old German political system. With southern 
and western Germany acknowledging allegiance to a new 
union of French origin, what room was there for the old 
empire? Having been deserted by its supporters, it was 
actually at an end. Therefore, at the news of the new 
Confederation, the Emperor Francis II. resolved to make The end of 
a legal end of it as well, and formally resigned. Thus Roman Em- 
perished the Holy Roman Empire, which had stood in the pire. 
world since the times of the great Augustus. Never was 
there an institution so long in dying. Centuries ago it had 
lost its efficacy, and its very venerability had become an 
aggravation of its weakness. Certainly no German had 
any cause to shed a tear at the passing away of such a 
national government. As for Francis II., he consoled 
himself for his loss by adopting the unhistorical title of 
emperor of Austria. 

The interference of Napoleon in Germany brought about Relations of 
next, the ruin of Prussia. Ever since 1795 (Treaty of prussia. 
Basle), Prussia had maintained toward France a friendly 
neutrality, and all the persuasion and threats of the rest of 
Europe had not induced her to join the Second and Third . 
Coalitions. But now that Napoleon had set himself the 
aim of conquering Europe, and had already reduced Aus- 
tria, Italy, and Germany to terms, peace with Prussia was 
no longer in accordance with his plans. He therefore 



5o8 



The Modern Period 



Prussia de- 
clares war, 
1806. 



The cam- 
paign of 
1806. 



Campaign 
against 
Russia, 
1807. 



Peace of 
Tilsit, 
Prussia 
humbled. 



deliberately provoked Prussia, until the obsequious govern- 
ment of King Frederick William III. (i 797-1840), could 
sink no lower and had to declare war (1806). 

The campaign of 1806 was the most brilliant that Na- 
poleon had yet fought. In a few weeks he had defeated 
the Prussians at Jena, entered Berlin, and practically ruined 
the monarchy of Frederick. With a bare handful of trooi)S 
Frederick William III. fled eastward, in order to put him- 
self under the protection of Russia. 

All central Europe now lay in Napoleon's hand, but he 
was not yet content. In order to humiliate the presump- 
tuous ally of Prussia, the Czar Alexander (1801-25), Napo- 
leon now set out for Russia. But having in June, 1807, 
won the splendid victory of Friedland (East Prussia), he 
magnanimously accepted Alexander's overtures of peace. 

The Czar Alexander had long felt a secret admiration 
for the great Corsican, and now, when he met him under 
romantic circumstances, on a raft moored in the river 
Niemen, he fell completely under the spell of his person- 
ality. The consequence of the repeated deliberations of 
the emperors, to which Frederick William of Prussia was 
also admitted, was the Peace of Tilsit (July, 1807). By 
this Peace Russia was restored without loss, but Prussia 
was thoroughly humiliated and condemned to the sacrifice 
of half her territory. The Prussian provinces between the 
Elbe and the Rhine were made into a Kingdom of West- 
phalia for Napoleon's brother Jerome, and the Prussian 
spoils of the later Polish partitions were constituted as the 
Grand-duchy of Warsaw, and given to the elector of Sax- 
ony, whom Napoleon in pursuance of his established Ger- 
man policy, created king. Thus Prussia was virtually re- 
duced to a secondary state. 

But the most important feature of the Treaty of Tilsit 
was, perhaps, the alliance between France and Russia, 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 509 

which was developed from the simple peace. The gist of Alliance 

it was that Napoleon and Alexander should divide Europe Napoleon 

between them, Napoleon exercising supremacy in the west ^"^ 

, . , , . , Alexander, 

and Alexander in the east. 

The Peace of Tilsit carried Napoleon to the zenith of Napoleon 

at the 
his career. He was now emperor of the French and king zenith of his 

of Italy; he held Germany as Protector of the Confeder- career. 
ation of the Rhine, and Switzerland as Mediator of the 
Helvetic Republic ; and in certain scattered territories, 
which he had not cared to absorb immediately, he ruled 
through subject-kings of his own family : through his 
brother Louis in Holland, through his brother Jerome in 
Westphalia, through his brother Joseph in Naples. Cen- 
tral Europe lay prostrate before him, while in the east 
Russia was his ally. To a man of Napoleon's imperious- 
ness it was an intolerable indignity that one nation still 
dared threaten him with impunity — England. 

The war with England, renewed in 1803, had been War 
practically settled, when in October, 1805 — Napoleon gwl^nd • 
being then on his march to Vienna — Nelson destroyed the the Conti- 
allied French and Spanish fleets off Trafalgar. The great ^^^ ^ 
Nelson perished in this engagement, at the moment of 
victory. Since then fighting on the seas had ceased. 
Though Napoleon might strike the inhabitants of Vienna 
and St. Petersburg with fear, his power, being military and 
not naval, ended with the shore. In the dilemma in which 
he found himself he now hit upon a curious device in 
order to bring England to terms. He resolved to ruin her 
commerce and sap her strength by the so-called Continen- 
tal System. As early as November, 1806, he sent out 
from Berlin a number of decrees enforcing the seizure of 
English goods, and ordering the cessation of English traffic 
in all French and allied ports ; and at Tiisit he had, with 
the consent of Alexander, declared the commercial breach 



5IO 



The Modern Period 



The 

Continental 

System 

prepares 

Napoleon's 

downfall. 



Napoleon 

occupies 

Portugal. 



Napoleon 
gives Spain 
to his broth- 
er Joseph, 
1808 



with England incumbent on all Europe. As England iiii- 
mediatcly responded with a blockade of all the continental 
ports, the conflict between England, dominant on the seas, 
and Napoleon, dominant on the Continent, now took the 
form of a vast struggle between the sea power and the land 
power. 

The Continental System may fairly be called the begin- 
ning of Napoleon's downfall, for it marks the point where 
the great genius overreached himself. By means of the 
Continental System trade was ruined and misery and fam- 
ine systematically created. More and more the people of 
Europe became incensed at their oppressor, and more and 
more did the subject-nations incline to revolt from him. 
But if ever the nations of Europe rose of one accord what 
chance was there for Napoleon's loose-jointed, cosmopol- 
itan empire ? 

The first protest against the Continental System was 
made, curiously enough, by little Portugal. In order to 
close its ports against the English, Napoleon occupied it 
with an army, November, 1S07. The resistance offered at 
first was small, and the royal family fled to Brazil. 

For the same purpose. Napoleon next occupied Spain. 
The relations between France and the Spanish Bourbons had, 
since the peace of 1795, been exceedingly friendly ; Napo- 
leon and Charles IV. of Spain had even become allies, 
and the latter had exhibited his good faith by sacrificing 
his fleet, for Napoleon's sake, at Trafalgar. Nevertheless, 
Napoleon now deliberately planned to deprive his friend 
of his kingdom. Taking advantage of a quarrel between 
the king and his son Ferdinand, he invited the royal pair 
to France, to lay their quarrel before him, and then, in- 
stead of adjudicating between them, he forced both to re- 
sign their rights to the throne (May, 1808). Spain was 
thereupon given to Napoleon's brother Joseph, who, in 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 5 1 1 

return, had to hand over his kingdom of Naples to Napo- 
leon's brother-in-law, the great cavalry leader Murat. 

This unexampled violation of law and justice occasioned The Span- 
a terrible excitement among the Spaniards. Spontaneously '^ ^^^^ ' 
the various provinces of the proud nation rose in revolt 
against the foreign usurper, and attacked him not with a 
professional army but in guerilla bands. The result was 
that the summer of 1808 brought Napoleon a harvest of 
small calamities, and to make things worse, England be- 
gan, gradually, to take a hand in Spanish affairs. Having 
waited in vain for Napoleon to seek her on the sea, she 
found and seized this opportunity to seek him on the land, 
and in the summer of 1808 dispatched an English army 
into Portugal for the purpose of supporting the Portuguese England 
and Spanish national revolts. When Napoleon, angered "^'P^ Spain, 
by the check received by his political system, appeared in 
person on the scene (autumn, 1808), he had no difficulty in 
sweeping the Spaniards into the hills and the English to 
their ships, but he was hardly gone when the Spaniards 
again ventured forth from their retreats, and the English 
forced a new landing. 

Napoleon had now to learn that a resolute people can- Successes of 
not be conquered. The Spanish war swallowed immense ja^ds and'of 
sums and immense forces ; but Napoleon, as stubborn in Wellington, 
his way as the Spaniards, would give ear to no sugges- 
tion of concession. Slowly, however, circumstances told 
against him. The revolts showed no signs of abating, and 
when, in 1809, a capable general, Sir Arthur Wellesley, 
known by his later title of duke of Wellington, took com- 
mand of the English forces, and foot by foot forced his way 
toward Madrid, Napoleon's Spanish enterprise became 
hopeless. Of course, that was not immediately apparent ; 
but what did become very soon apparent was that the 
enslaved states of central Europe were taking the cue from 



512 



The Modern Period 



Failure of 
the Austrian 
revolt, 1809. 



Napoleon 
and Czar 
Alexander 
dra^v aAvay 
from one 
another. 



Napoleon 
seeks an 
alliance 
with Aus- 
tria. 



Napoleon 

divorces 

Josephine. 



the Spaniards, and were preparing, in a similar manner, a 
popular struggle to the knife with their oppressor. 

In the year 1809, Austria, encouraged by the Spanish 
successes, was inspired to arouse the Germans to a national 
revolt. But the result proved that the effort was premature. 
At Wagram (July, 1809) Napoleon laid Austria a fourth 
time at his feet, and in the Peace of Vienna which followed, 
forced her to make further cessions of territory. It is 
not improbable that Napoleon would now have made an 
end of Austria altogether, if he had not been forced at 
this time to provide for a complete change of his political 
system. 

The fact was, that Czar Alexander was getting tired of 
the arrangements of Tilsit. The Peace of Tilsit practi- 
cally shut Russia off from the west, and made it incumbent 
upon the Czar to accept before-hand every alteration in that 
part of Europe which Napoleon chose to dictate. Then 
the Continental System, to which Alexander had pledged 
himself, was proving in Russia, as elsewhere, a heavy burden. 
Napoleon noticed the diminishing heartiness of the Czar, 
and resolved to secure himself against defection by allying 
himself with Austria. Austria was, after the war of 1809, 
in no position to refuse the proffered friendship, and when 
Napoleon further demanded, as a pledge of good faith, the 
hand of the emperor's daughter Marie Louise, that request, 
too, had to be granted. In consequence of these changed 
political plans, Napoleon divorced his first wife, the amia- 
ble Josephine Beauharnais, and in April, 1810, celebrated 
his union with a daughter of the ancient imperial line of 
Hapsburg. When, in the succeeding year, there was born 
to him a son and heir,' he could fancy that his throne had 
finally acquired permanence. 



' Known as king of Rome and styled Napoleon II. He died young 
(1832), at the court of his grandfather, the emperor of Austria. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 513 

The breach between Napoleon and Alexander became The cam- 
definite in the course of the year 181 1. Both powers, igrf " ° 
therefore, eagerly prepared for war, and in the spring of 
181 2, Napoleon set in movement toward Russia the great- 
est armament that Europe had ever seen. A half million 
of men, representing all the nationalities of Napoleon's cos- 
mopolitan empire, seemed more than adequate to the task 
of bringing the Czar under the law of the emperor. And 
the expedition was, at first, attended by a series of splendid 
successes. In September Napoleon even occupied Moscow, 
the Russian capital, and there calmly waited to receive 
Alexander's submission. 

But he had underrated the spirit of resistance which ani- 
mated the empire of the Czar, Here, as in Spain, a de- 
termination to die rather than yield possessed every man, 
woman, and child, and Napoleon was destined to receive, at 
the very culmination of a triumphant campaign, a terri- 
ble witness of the popular aversion. He had hardly ar- The burning 
rived in Moscow when the whole city was, in accordance O' ^^oscow. 
with a carefully laid plan on the part of the retreating Rus- 
sians, set on fire and burned to the foundations. 

The burning of Moscow meant nothing more nor less 
than the loss of the campaign, for Moscow gone, there was 
not the least chance of finding adequate winter quarters in 
Russia. What was there left to do ? Napoleon, with The retreat, 
heavy heart, had to order the retreat. The rest of the 
campaign can be imagined, but not told. The frost of a 
winter unexampled even in that northern climate ; the 
gnawing hunger, which there was nothing to appease, but 
occasional horseflesh; and, finally, the fierce bands of en- 
veloping Cossacks racked that poor army, till its disci- 
pline broke and its decimated battalions melted into a wild 
heap of struggling fugitives. Napoleon was unable to 
stand the sight of the misery and ruin, and, on December 



514 



The Modern Period 



Europe 
prepares to 
rise. 



The revival 
of Prussia. 



Prussia de- 
clares war, 
1813. 

First half 
of the cam- 
paign of 
1813. 



5, deserted the army, and hurried to Paris. Only late in 
December the remnant of the so-called grand army dragged 
itself across the Niemen into safety. 

The loss of his splendid army in Russia was, in any case, 
a serious calamity to Napoleon. But it would become an 
irremediable catastrophe, if it encouraged central Europe 
to proclaim against him a national revolt, and created 
new complications at a juncture when he required all his 
strength to repair the unique disaster of his life. Unluck- 
ily for Napoleon, patriots everywhere felt this fact instinc- 
tively. Here was a moment of supreme importance, offer- 
ing to all the conquered peoples of Europe the alternative 
of now or never, and at the call of the patriots, they rose 
against their military master and overthrew him. But the 
honor of having risen first belongs to Prussia. 

The Peace of Tilsit had indeed ground Prussia into the 
dust, but it had also prepared her redemption. A number of 
sober and patriotic men, notably Stein, Hardenberg, and 
Scharnhorst, had, after the overthrow at Jena, gained the 
upper hand in the council of the weak king, and had carried 
through a series of reforms, such as the abolition of serf- 
dom and the reorganization of the army on a national 
basis, which, as by some process of magic, rejuvenated the 
state. When this renovated nation heard of Napoleon's 
ruin on the Russian snowfields, it was hardly to be con- 
tained for joy and impatience. All classes were seized with 
the conviction that the great hour of revenge had come ; 
no debate, no delay on the part of the timid king was suf- 
fered, and resistlessly swept along in the rising tide of en- 
thusia.sm, he was forced to sign an alliance with Russia and 
declare war (March, 18 13). 

The disastrous campaign of 18 12 would have exhausted 
any other man than Napoleon. But he faced the new 
situation as undaunted as ever. By herculean efforts he 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 515 



succeeded in mustering a new army, and in the spring of 
1813 he appeared suddenly in the heart of Germany, 
ready to punish the Prussians and the Russians. At Liitzen 
(May 2), and at Bautzen (May 20), he maintained his 
ancient reputation. But clearly the day of the Jenas and 
Friedlands was over, for the allies after their defeat fell back 
in good order upon Silesia, and Napoleon had to confess 
that his victories had been paid for by such heavy losses 
that to win, at this rate, was equivalent to ruin. On June 4 
he agreed to an armistice in order to reorganize his troops. 

Both parties now became aware that the issue of the Second half 
campaign depended upon Austria ; so delicately adjusted °[ campaign 
were the scales between the contestants that the side upon 
which she would throw her influence would win. In 
these circumstances Metternich, Austria's minister, un- 
dertook, at first, the role of mediator, but when Napoleon 
indignantly rejected the conditions for a general peace 
which Metternich proposed, Austria threw in her lot with 
the European coalition, and in the autumn of 1813 there 
followed a concerted forward movement on the part of all 
the allies : Prussians, Russians, and Austrians crowded in 
upon Napoleon from all sides. Having the smaller force Battle of 
(160,000 men against 255,000 of the allies), he was grad- ^^'P^**^- 
ually outmanoeuvred, and at the great three days' battle 
of Leipsic (October i6-i8) crushed utterly. With such 
remnants as he could hold together he hurried across the 
Rhine. Germany was lost beyond recovery. The ques- 
tion now was merely : would he be able to retain France ? 

If the alhes had been able to think of Napoleon in any 
other way than as a conqueror, it is very probable that 
they would not have pursued their advantage beyond Leip- 
sic. But Napoleon, as the peaceful sovereign of a re- 
stricted France, was inconceivable, and therefore, after a 
moment's hesitation on the shores of the Rhine, the allies 



5i6 



The Modern Period 



invaded the French territory, resolved to make an end of 
their enemy. Still Napoleon, always fearless, held out. 
Military men regard his campaign of the winter of 1814 
Campaign of as worthy of his best years, but he was now hopelessly 



1814. 



Napoleon 
abdicates. 



The Con- 
gress of 
Vienna. 



outnumbered, and when, on March 31, the allies forced 
the gates of Paris, even Napoleon's confidence received 
a shock. As he looked about him, he saw the whole east 
of France in the hands of his enemies of Leipsic, while the 
south was as rapidly falling into the power of Wellington, 
who having signally defeated the army of Marshal Soult in 
Spain, was now pursuing it across the Pyrenees. On April 
6, 1814, Napoleon declared at his castle of Fontainebleau 
that all was over, and offered his abdication. The allies 
conceded him the island of Elba, as a residence, and then 
gave their attention to the problem of the future of France. 
Not from any enthusiasm for the House of Bourbon, but 
merely because there was no other way out of the diffi- 
culties, they finally gave their sanction to the accession to 
the throne of Louis XVIII. , brother of the last king. As 
regards the extent of the restored kingdom, it was agreed 
in the Peace of Paris that France was to receive the 
boundaries of 1792. 

This important work being completed, a general con- 
gress of the powers assembled at Vienna to discuss the 
reconstruction of Europe. The modern age has not seen 
a more brilliant gathering, all the sovereigns and statesmen 
who had stood at the centre of public attention during the 
last momentous years being, with few exceptions, present. 
But before the Congress of Vienna had ended its labors, 
the military coalition, which the congress represented, 
was once more called upon to take the field. For, in 
March, 181 5, the ne\A^ reached the sovereigns at Vienna, 
that Napoleon had made his escape from Elba, and had 
once more landed in France. 



The French Revolution and Era of Napoleon 517 

The resolution formed by Napoleon in February, 18 15, Napoleon's 
to try conclusions once more with united Europe was a des- jpiua" ""^ 
perate measure. On March i he landed unexpectedly 
near Cannes, and no sooner had he displayed his banners, 
than his former soldiers streamed to the standards, to which 
they were attached with heart and soul by innumerable 
glorious memories. Marshal Ney, who was sent out by 
Louis XVIII. to take Napoleon captive, broke into tears at 
sight of his old leader, and folded him in his arms. There 
was no resisting the magnetic power of the name Na- 
poleon. Louis XVIII. again fled across the border, and 
the hero of the soldiers and the common people entered 
Paris amidst the wildest acclamations. 

The Hundred Days, as Napoleon's restoration is called, The Hun- 
form a mere after-play to the great drama of the years 1812, A P^^-^~7 
^ J ^ J 'an historical 

1813, and 1814, for there was never for a moment a chance interlude, 
of the emperor's success. The powers had hardly heard of 
the great soldier's return when they launched their excom- 
munication against him, and converged their columns from 
all sides upon his capital. That Napoleon might under 
the circumstances win an encounter or two was undeniable ; 
but that he would be crushed in the end was, from the 
first, certain as fate. The decision came in Belgium. There 
Wellington had gathered an English-German army, and 
thither marched to his assistance Marshal Bliicher with his 
Prussians. These enemies, gathered against his northern 
frontier. Napoleon resolved to meet first. With his usual 
swiftness he fell upon Bliicher on June 16 at Ligny, before 
Wellington could effect a junction, and beat him roundly. 
Leaving Marshal Grouchy with 30,000 men to pursue the 
Prussians, he next turned, on June 18, against Wellington. 

Wellington, who had taken a strong defensive position The battle 

near Waterloo, resolutely awaited the French attack. All the P^ Water- 

■' loo, June 18, 

afternoon Napoleon hurled his infantry and cavalry against 1815. 



$i8 The Modern Period 

the iron duke's positions ; he could not dislodge his enemy, 
and when, toward evening, the Prussians unexpectedly 
made their appearance on his right, he was caught between 
two fires, and totally ruined. Precipitately he fled to Paris, 
and there abdicated a second time. Deserted by all in his 
misfortunes, he now planned to escape to America, but on 

Napoleon being recognized as he was about to embark, he was taken 

sent to St. , , , ,. , , ^ 

Helena. prisoner, and by the verdict of the European coalition con- 

veyed, soon after, to the rocky, mid-Atlantic island of St. 
Helena.' 

The Bour- At Paris, meanwhile, the allies were celebrating their 

Don Restor- 

ation. victory by again raising Louis XVIII. to the throne (Sec- 

ond Peace of Paris). 



SPECIAL TOPICS 

, Privileged and Unprivileged Classes under the Ancient Regime. Lowell, 

£vt' of tht French Revolution. Von Hoist, Frenck Revolution, a vols. 

Callaghan, Chicago. $2.00. See Vol. I. Taine, A mieitt Regime. 
The Philosophers of the Eighteenth Centirv. Lowell and Taine as in 

preceding topic. Morley, Rousseau, 2 vols. Macmillan. Also Vol- 

taire ; also Diderot aud the Ettcyclopadists, 2 vols. 
MiRABEAU AS A Man AND STATESMAN. Von Holst. Especially Vol. II. 

Willert, mirabeau (Statesmen). $1.00. Macmillan. 
The Character of Napoleon. Seeley, Napoleon I. $1.00. Roberts Bros. 

Madame de R6musat, Memoirs. Sampson Low. Taine, Modem 

Ri&ime. Vol. I., Bk. I. 



•At St. Helena Napoleon died {1821), after a captivity of six years. 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of 18^0 519 



CHAPTER XXXI 



THE HOLY ALLIANCE AND THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1830 

LITERATURE.— Fyffe, History of Modcr/i Europe (1792-1878). Popular 

edition. $2.75. Holt. Ch. XII. -XVI. 
Miiller, History of Recent Tunes. $2.00. Harper. Periods I. and II. 
Seignobos, Political History of Europe Since 1S14. $3.00. Holt. Of 

these three narrative histories, Seignobos is the latest and most 

scientific. 
Andrews, The fiistorical Development of Modern Europe, 2 vols. $5.00. 

Putnam. Excellent, but useful rather as a commentary than 

as a narrative text. 

Translations and Reprints. Univ. of Penn. Vol. I. No. 3 {JThe Charte 
Holy Alliance, etc.). 



.1 



The battle of Waterloo having rung down the curtain on 
the great Napoleonic drama, the plenipotentiaries at Vienna 
could, in all peace of mind, bring their deliberations to a 
close. These were embodied in the Final Act of the Con- 
gress of Vienna, and, than this, no political treaty has ever 
been more universally condemned, because of the hide- 
bound conservatism which is its informing spirit. But all 
things taken into consideration, it was not so very un- 
natural that governments, which had suffered so severely 
from revolution, as the governments represented at Vienna, 
should have inclined toward a reactionary policy. Since 
revolution had proved an unmitigated evil, the best thing 
possible was to return to the pre-revolutionary conditions, 
and to restore the pre-revolutionary sovereigns or their heirs. 
This dominant principle of the Congress received the name 
of " legitimacy," and its most fanatical champion was the 
Austrian minister, Metternich. 

Now such a principle certainly had its excuse, but the 
Congress at Vienna made the mistake of applying it 
blindly and in direct contravention, in frequent cases, to 



The Con- 
gress of 
Vienna 
ruled by 
conserva- 
tive princi- 
ples. 



Metternich 
and " legit- 
imacy." 

Extrava- 
gance of the 
reactionists. 



520 



The Modern Period 



The territo- 
rial recon- 
struction of 
the great 
powers. 



the rights of nationahty and to the popular demand of free 
institutions. Only the overmastering longing for rest, which 
had come over Europe after the unparalleled agitation of 
the last twenty-five years, explains why the very arbitrary 
arrangements of the Congress were accepted without pro- 
test. Sooner or later, however, a protest was sure to be 
made. The various peoples of Europe would remember the 
national and liberal ideas, which had been made common 
property by the Revolution, and then the narrow, reac- 
tionary policy of the Congress would become the subject of 
criticism and attack. In fact, the substance of the history 
of the nineteenth century may be said to be the conflict 
between the reactionary policy adopted by the governments 
at the Congress of Vienna and the expanding national and 
liberal ideas of the people themselves. 

The Congress of Vienna concerned itself, first of all, 
with the restoration of the great powers. The two Ger- 
man powers, Prussia and Austria, acquired a territory as 
extensive, but not identical with that enjoyed before the 
era of Napoleon. Though they gave up their claims to 
some of their Polish provinces, they received ample com- 
pensation, Austria in Italy, and Prussia in western Ger- 
many. The Polish provinces surrendered by Austria and 
Prussia were given to Czar Alexander, who formed them 
into a new kingdom of Poland, with himself as king. 
England was rewarded for her share in the victory over 
Napoleon by a number of French and Dutch colonies, 
notably South Africa (the Cape) and Malta. Thus each 
one of the great powers, which had contributed to the 
overthrow of the Corsican conqueror, was not only restored 
to its former condition, but received a substantial increase. 

The Congress encountered its greatest difficulties in ar- 
ranging the affairs of Italy and Germany. As regards 
Italy, these difficulties were finally met by the application, 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of i8jo 521 

in a loose way, to the Italian situation of the principle of The "legit- 
legitimacy. The kingdom of Naples (also called the \^iL^ -_. 
kingdom of the Two Sicilies) was restored to the " legit- stored in 
imate" Bourbon king; the pope got back the States of ^^' 
the Church ; Tuscany was returned to its legal sovereign, a 
younger member of the House of Hapsburg ; Piedmont, 
increased by the Republic of Genoa, was restored to the 
king of Sardinia ; and Lombardy and Venice, far and 
away the richest provinces of Italy, were delivered over 
to Austria. There were also established a number of 
smaller states — for instance, Parma, Modena, Lucca — but 
it will be seen at a glance that the dominant power of 
the peninsula, on the basis of these arrangements, was 
Austria. 

As for Germany, the Napoleonic wars had been a blessing Instead of 
in disguise. To note only one result : they had destroyed Jj^nv eets 
the old impotent empire, and had reduced the number the Bund, 
of sovereign states from over three hundred to thirty-eight.' 
Certainly this last revolution had vastly improved the 
chances for a new German unity. But the obstacles in the 
way of such a movement were still too great to be immedi- 
ately overcome. From century-old habit the thirty-eight 
states looked upon each other with ill-favor, and even if the 
lesser ones could have mastered their mutual distrust, there 
still remained as a barrier to union the ineradicable jealousy 
between Austria and Prussia. Under these untoward cir- 
cumstances, the utmost concession of the sovereign states 
to the popular demand for unity was a loose confederation 
called Bund. The constitution of the ^w;?^ provided for a 
Diet at Frankfurt, to which the governments of the thirty- 
eight states were invited to send delegates, but as the con- 

' The thirty-eight states may, for convenience sake, be divided into 
three groups : i, large states, Austria and Prussia ; 2, middle states, Ba- 
varia, Saxony, Hanover, Wurtemberg, all raised to the rank of king- 
doms by Napoleon ; 3, small states, Hesse, Weimar, etc. 



522 



The Modern Period 



The Holy 
Alliance. 



Reaction in 
Spain fol- 
lowed by 
revolution. 



stitution carefully omitted giving those delegates any nota- 
ble functions, the Diet could enact no laws to speak of, and 
the ^//;/</ remained a farce. 

We have already seen that the point of departure for the 
deliberations of the Congress of Vienna was the hatred of 
revolution. This hatred developed into a fanatical faith, 
and in order to support better the cause of quiet and order 
against revolutionary disturbers, it was agreed on the part 
of the more ardent of the reactionary powers — Russia, 
Austria, and Prussia — to form what is known in history as 
the Holy Alliance. The Holy Alliance was on its face 
nothing more than a pledge on the part of Czar Alexander, 
Emperor Francis, and King Frederick William to rule in 
accordance with the precepts of the Bible, but as these 
precepts were understood to be absolutist and reactionary, 
the Holy Alliance came to mean the determination to 
fight revolution with united forces wherever it showed 
itself. 

The first revolution to shake Europe out of the unworthy 
stupor, into which she had fallen on the overthrow of Na- 
poleon, occurred in Spain. The fall of Napoleon had 
brought back to that country the deposed Bourbon mon- 
arch, Ferdinand VH. On his return to Spain he thought 
only of recovering all the autocratic rights of his ancestors, 
and deliberately set aside the constitution which the patriots 
had enacted during his absence, and which is always re- 
ferred to as the Constitution of 1812. Then he started 
out on a policy which involved the abolition of all the 
Napoleonic reforms, the restoration of the monasteries, and 
the persecution of the patriots. By 1820 his government 
had made itself so intolerable that the liberals rose in revolt, 
with the result that the king, who was a coward at heart, 
immediately bowed to the storm, and restored the Consti- 
tution of 181 2. Before reactionary Europe had recovered 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of 1830 523 



from the surprise and indignation caused by the news from 
Spain, a revolution similar to that of Spain shook the king- 
dom of Naples. In Naples the Congress of Vienna had 
restored another Bourbon king, also named Ferdinand. A 
weak-kneed individual he was frightened by a mere public 
demonstration into accepting a constitution similar to that 
of Spain. 

In view of these threatening movements in Spain and 
in Naples, Metternich, the Austrian premier, called together 
a European Congress, first at Troppau (1820), and later at 
Lai bach (1821). At these conferences he put the question 
before the great powers, whether revolutions should be suf- 
fered, or whether Europe would not be acting more wisely 
to interpose wherever the sacred rights of a legitimate mon- 
arch were attacked. Backed by his friends of the Holy Al- 
liance, he carried his point at these Congresses ; Europe 
formally adopted a policy of repression against revolution, 
and initiated its programme by charging Austria with the 
restoration in Naples of what Metternich was pleased to call 
"order." 

Of course it was hardly to be expected that the Neapoli- 
tans would stand up against Austria. At the approach of 
the Austrian army, the liberal government immediately 
went to pieces, and King Ferdinand was restored as abso- 
lute monarch. 

This first success so greatly delighted Metternich and his 
reactionary henchmen Uiat they resolved to play a still 
bolder game. At a new Congress, held at Verona (1822), 
they resolved on intervention in Spain, and this time com- 
missioned France with the execution of their verdict. As 
a result King Ferdinand was restored by a French army, 
and celebrated his return to absolute power by a series of 
cruel executions. Thus the reaction maintained its grip on 
Europe. 



Revolution 
in Naples, 
1820. 



Metternich 
persuades 
Europe to 
put down 
revolution. 



Austria 
makes an 
end of the 
constitution 
of Naples. 



France re- 
stores des- 
potism in 
Spain, 1823. 



524 



The Modern Period 



The re- 
nascence of 
Greece, 
1821. 



England, 
France, and 
Russia in- 
terfere in 
behalf of 
Greece. 



Battle of 

Navarino, 

1827. 



While the west was thus cowed and degraded by a 
ridiculous tutelage, a little country in the far east boldly 
ventured to assert the inalienable right of every people to 
liberty and self-government. This little country was the 
historic land of Greece. The very name of Greece had 
almost fallen into oblivion when, in 182 1, the inhabitants 
of the ancient peninsula aroused Europe to surprise and en- 
thusiasm by rising concertedly against the power of the 
Turks, in whose repulsive bondage they had lain for many 
centuries. The Sultan, in his rage at the audacity of the 
little people, allowed himself to be hurried into abominable 
atrocities (20,000 Greeks, for instance, were murdered in 
the island of Chios), but the Greeks resisted the Turkish 
tyranny every whit as bravely as their ancestors had, at 
Marathon and Thermopylae, held out against the Persian 
invasion, and, though defeated, could not be subdued. 

For a long time the governments of Europe took no part 
in the struggle, though it was a Christian nation which 
was fighting against Mohammedans. The European /^<7- 
ples, indeed, had exhibited a sympathy which stood out in 
noble contrast with the apathy of the rulers, and many 
were the volunteers who, joining the Greek ranks, had sac- 
rificed wealth and life for the sacred soil of the old Hellenic 
culture ; but scattered volunteers do not decide great causes, 
and the governments, as has been said, remained cold and 
indifferent. At last the English minister. Canning, suc- 
ceeded in persuading Czar Nichojas, who had succeeded 
Alexander in 1825, to interpose with him in behalf of the 
Greeks. France also lent her aid to Canning's project of 
intervention, and when the Mohammedans refused to as- 
sent to the demands of the western powers, the united French 
and English fleets attacked them at Navarino, and totally 
ruined their naval power (1827). 

The Sultan now saw that he must grant the Greeks their 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of i8jo 525 

independence, but before he had made up his mind to 
humble himself in so conspicuous a manner, the Czar Nich- 
olas, impatient of further delay, declared war against him 
(1828), invaded the Danubian provinces, and forced him 
to sign the Peace of Adrianople (1829). By this Treaty Russia 

the Sultan granted Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, the ^^f^^ ^}^^ 

, Sultan to ac- 

leading provinces of the Balkan peninsula, Christian gov- knowledge 
ernors, and recognized the independence of Greece. A ngnHenc' f 
conference of the powers at London, held to settle the af- Greece, 
fairs of their protege, determined that Greece was to be a ^ ^^' 
free monarchy, and offered the crown to prince Otto of 
Bavaria. This Otto ruled as first king of Greece until the 
year 1862. 

The independence of Greece was the first great victory 
of liberalism in Europe since the Congress of Vienna. It 
was destined to be the prelude of a much greater one in the 
old home of revolution — France. 

The battle of Waterloo had for the second time brought The danger 

the Bourbons back to France. But upon the second resto- P^ ^'^^ Bour- 

. ^ Don restora- 

ration, as upon the first, wise men everywhere looked with tion in 

apprehension. For, unfortunately, the Bourbons and the ^''^"<^^' 
emigrant nobles returned with all the old prejudices with 
which they had departed ; during their long foreign resi- 
dence they had, as Napoleon said, learned nothing, and 
forgotten nothing. 

The allied monarchs themselves entertained grave doubts Louis 

about the wisdom of the Bourbon restoration. In order ^^^y- 

grants a 

to set the king upon the right path, they insisted, before constitu- 
they would leave French soil, that Louis XVIII. pledge **°"* 
himself to a constitutional government. Louis XVIII. , 
who was happily the most sensible and moderate member 
of the royalist party, very willingly acceded, and published 
a constitution (Ja charie), by which he accepted the situa- 
tion created by the Revolution, and assured the people 



526 



The Modern Period 



Charles X. 
(1824-30) 
attempts to 
restore ab- 
solutism. 



The July 

ordinances, 

1830. 



The July 
revolution 
at Paris. 



a share in the government by means of two legislative cham- 
bers, the chamber of Peers and the chamber of Deputies. 

For awhile the government did well enough, but 
when Louis XVIII. was succeeded on his death (1824) by 
his brother, Charles X., things rapidly went from bad to 
worse. Charles X. , as count of Artois, had been the head 
of the noble emigrants, and was as much detested by the 
people as he was idolized by the feudal party. The reign of 
reaction was now unchecked. Among other measures, one 
billion francs were voted to the nobles to indemnify them 
for their losses during the revolution. Finally, it was 
planned to muzzle the press and gag the universities. But 
at this point the chamber of Deputies refused to serve the 
reaction further, and had to be dissolved (1830). There- 
upon the prime minister, the unpopular duke of Polignac, 
urged the king to take by decree what he could not get by 
law, and on July 26, 1830, there appeared under the king's 
seal four ordinances, which arbitrarily limited the list of 
voters, and put an end to the freedom of printing. The 
ordinances substantially meant the abandonment by the 
king of legal courses, the revocation of the constitution, 
and the return to absolutism. Did France have no answer 
to so monstrous an attempt ? 

The four ordinances of July 26 caused an immediate 
tumult in the capital, bands of students and workmen pa- 
rading the streets and cheering the constitution. But 
their cheers changed soon to the more ominous cries: 
down with ministers ! down with the Bourbons ! The king 
was summering at the time at St. Cloud, and hardly 
raised a hand in his defence. The few troops in the city 
soon proved themselves inadequate to restrain the multi- 
tude, and after a number of sharp encounters withdrew 
into the country. For a moment it seemed that the capi- 
tal was delivered over to anarchy. 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of 1830 527 

In this confusion a number of prominent members of The moder- 
the middle-class or bourgeoisie met to discuss what was to the^crown 
be done. They were men equally averse to tyranny and to Louis 
to disorder ; all that France needed and desired according * 'PP^* 
to them was a genuitiely constitutional monarchy. They 
therefore resolved to concur in the deposition of Charles X, 
and his heirs, and offer the crown to the popular head of 
the secondary branch of the House of Bourbon, Louis 
Philippe, duke of Orleans. Louis Philippe was the son of 
that disreputable duke of Orleans, who had voted for the 
death of Louis XVI., and had been guillotined by the 
Terror. As a young man he had served in the revolu- 
tionary army, and though he had abandoned France in 
1793, and little had been heard of him since, he was re- 
puted to be a man of firm, liberal principles. When the 
self-constituted committee of the Parisian moderates waited 
upon him to tender him the crown, he at first feigned re- 
luctance, but was finally persuaded to accept provisionally, 
until such time as the Chamber of Deputies, representing 
the country, had come to a final decision. 

When the Chamber of Deputies assembled it immediately Louis 
offered the crown to Louis Philippe. He had already ap- ^""iPPS 
peared in the city some days before, and had, after pub- king of the 
licly assuming the tricolor, the emblem of the Revolution, 
undertaken the government temporarily as lieutenant- 
governor. Now he hesitated no longer to take the final 
step ; at the solicitation of the chamber, he solemnly swore 
to observe the constitution, and adopted the style of Louis 
Philippe, king of the French. This news blasted the last 
hopes of Charles X. and he now abandoned the kingdom. 
Thus France had inaugurated a new experiment in govern- 
ment which is named from the Orleanist dynasty, now pro- 
moted to the control of affairs. 

Meanwhile the report of the July Revolution in Paris 



French. 



528 



Tlic Modern Period 



The July 
revolution 
a^vakens an 
echo in 
Europe. 



The revolu 
tion in 
Belgium. 



The breach 
with the 
Dutch, 
August, 
1830. 



had travelled abroad. Ever since the seventeenth century 
France had assumed in Europe the leadership in political 
ide:is, and every action upon her public stage was watched 
by her neighbors with eager interest. Therefore' the fall 
of the Bourbons and the victory of the people sent a flutter 
of eager hope through the peoples which had been injured 
and shackled by the Congress of Vienna. Evidently the 
time had at last come to venture a blow, and in the course 
of the year 1830, country after country, imitating the ex- 
ample set by the Parisians, raised its voice in behalf of 
freedom and self-government. 

riie most immediate stir was caused among the north- 
eastern neighbors of France, the Belgians, than whom i)er- 
haps no people had suffered more from the high-handed 
methods of the Congress of Vienna. AVithout even the 
pretence of consulting the wishes of the inhabitants, the 
country of Belgium had, at Vienna, been incorporated 
with Holland. The kingdom of the Netherlands, as the 
fused states of Holland and Belgium were called, was put un- 
der the government of the ancient Dutch House of Orange, 
and was expected to keep a close eye, in behalf of the Euro- 
pean peace, on the old disturber of that peace — France. 

However, the union caused discomfort to the Belgians 
from the first. They protested against the over-lordship 
which Holland, the smaller partner, was exercising, and 
finally demanded a separate administration. A\'hen King 
William resisted these claims, they resolved, in August, 
1S30, to imitate the Parisians, and accordingly revolted. 
But at this point, the European powers became alarmed, 
and at a conference held at London resolved to interfere. 
Although the members of the Holy Alliance would gladly 
have supported the House of Orange, they had troubles of 
their own to attend to, and so reluctantly acceded to the 
proposition of France and England to grant the Belgians 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of i8jo 529 

independence. This matter having been settled without Belgium 
much difficulty, the powers next approved of a Belgian con- J^depe^'dent 
gress to take into its hands the internal affairs of the coun- kingdom, 
try. When this congress met (November, 1830), it de- 
clared in principle for a limited monarchy, and then set 
about constructing an appropriate constitution. When all 
was done, it offered the crown to Prince Leopold, of the 
German House of Saxe-Coburg, and Leopold actually as- 
sumed the government in 1831, with the title of king of King Leo- 
the Belgians. It is to the credit of King Leopold (183 1- igoi-a'i; 
65) that, although a foreigner, he should have made him- 
self entirely acceptable to his new people, and that under 
his wise rule Belgium prosjiered, as she had not prospered 
since the evil day when she fell into the clutches of Spain. 

As the two great central European countries, Germany Germany 
and Italy, had received very ungenerous treatment at the 
Congress of Vienna, it might be expected that the July 
revolution would create a widely sympathetic movement 
among them. But although they enjoyed neither national 
unity nor freedom, and had every cause for discontent, 
their revolutions of 1830 were, for different reasons, most 
insignificant affairs. 

In Germany every important development hinged, 
naturally, upon the action of the two great states, Prussia 
and Austria. But owing chiefly to the ancient habit of 
obedience, the people of these two states did not, in 1830, 
stir against their reactionary monarchs. However, in a 
great many of the smaller states, like Brunswick, Hanover, In Germany 
and Saxony, the cry was raised for a liberal constitution, states 
and in each instance the princes had to give way, and become con- 
establish a modern representative government. As the 
south German states, the most notable of which were Ba- 
varia, Wurtemberg, and Baden, had, by the free act of 
their sovereigns, been granted liberal constitutions soon 



530 



The Modern Period 



The Italian 
revolution 
of 1830 of no 
conse- 
quence. 



Poland in 
1830. 



after 1815, the result of the commotions of 1830 fur Ger- 
many may be summed up thus : With that year practically 
all the smaller German states had declared for sensible con- 
stitutional progress, Austria and Prussia, the natural leaders, 
alone persisting in the antiquated absolute system. 

If in Italy there was aroused no great commotion by the 
July revolution, it was due to the lingering memories of 
the unfortunate Neapolitan insurrection of 1820, and of 
the armed intervention of Austria which had followed. 
Ever since, Metternich was keeping a close watch upon 
the peninsula, and holding himself ready to fall, at a mo- 
ment's notice, from his vantage-point of Lombardy upon 
any disturber of the peace. Thus the liberals could no- 
where make a successful beginning, and the total result for 
Italy of the revolution of 1830 was an increased hatred of 
the Austrian master and meddler. 

The agitations of Germany and Italy were mere trifles 
compared to the great insurrection which took place in 
Poland. The reader will remember that at the Congress 
of Vienna Poland was partially restored. Prussia and Aus- 
tria having surrendered for an adequate compensation cer- 
tain of their Polish spoils to Russia, the Czar Alexander, 
who was a man of extremely generous disposition and full 
of kindly feeling toward the unfortunate Poles, seized the 
opportunity, afforded by this acquisition, to re-establish, 
with somewhat restricted boundaries, the old kingdom of 
Poland. Although a despot in Russia, he gave the king- 
dom of Poland a constitution, and promised to rule there 
as a constitutional king. Under him Poland had a sepa- 
rate administration and its own army. This was certainly 
something ; but unfortunately it was not enough for the 
proud nation, which remembered that it had been a great 
power when Russia, its present master, was no more than 
a mean and snow-bound duchy of Muscovy. 



The Holy Alliance and the Revolutions of 18^0 53 1 

Everywhere there were murmurs of discontent, and Discontent, 
when the magnanimous Alexander died (1825), and was 
succeeded by his severe and unpopular brother, Nicholas, 
they swelled to ominous proportions. In November, 1830, 
under the leadership of a few young enthusiasts, the cap- 
ital, Warsaw, suddenly rose in insurrection. The rest of The rising 
the country followed the example of the capital, and before 1830. 
many days had passed, the Poles were masters in their own 
land and had set up a provisional government at Warsaw. 

And if mere valor could have availed, the Poles would 
now have maintained their independence. But they had 
to face disciplined Russian armies which overwhelmingly 
outnumbered their own, and after a year of stiff resistance 
were forced to surrender. Thus the seal of fate was set 
upon \\\Q finis Polonies pronounced in the previous century. 

When Czar Nicholas again took hold, it was with the The rising 
grim resolve to remove all chances of another Polish rev- f*"^. 
olution. He firmly believed that he had been trifled with 
by the Poles because he had proved himself too kind. 
He would not err in that way any more, and now deter- 
mined that Poland should be merged with Russia as a 
Russian province ; the very language of the Poles was to Poland 
be replaced by the Russian tongue ; and their Catholic u vf J h 
faith was to make room for the Greek Orthodox Church, Russia. 
of which the Czar was the head. Poland now fell into a 
i sad eclipse. Bound and gagged she lay at the feet of 
Russia ; but as long as there was life, her people were de- 
termined to cling to their national memories. And they 
have clung to them to this day. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

X. The Final Collapse of the Bourbons. Seignobos, Ch. V. Fyffe, Ch. 
XVI. Andrews, Vol. I., Ch. IV. 

2. Metternich and the Holy Alliance. Text of Holy Alliattce in Transla- 
tions and Reprints, University of Pennsylvania. Vol. I,, No. 3. Fyffe, 
Ch. XII.-XIII. Andrews, Vol. I., Ch. III. 



532 The Modern Period 



CHAPTER XXXII 

THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848 
{a) The French Revolution of 1848 

LITERATURE. -Fyffe, Chs. XVII. -XIX. (passim). 
Muller, Period III., Division 15. 
Seignobos, Chs. V. and VI. Andrews, Vol. I., Chap. VIII. 

Louis Phil- Meanwhile France, the country in which the revokition- 
'^tizen- '^^y iiiovement of 1830 had begun, was experimenting with 

king. its new Orleanist government. Clearly the success of the 

venture depended, first of all, on the character of the new 
king and his power to conciliate the numerous opposition. 
And at first glance Louis Philippe, who was shrewd and 
well-meaning and quite without the ancient affectations of 
royalty, did not seem an unsuitable man for the royal office. 
But his situation was extremely perilous, for France was 
divided into four parties, three of which could not possibly 
be reconciled with the reigning government. The Bona- 
partists, the Bourbonists (or Legitimists), and the RepubU- 
cans, although differing radically among themselves, existed 
by virtue of governmental principles which were antagon- 
istic to the Orleanist dynasty, and so there remained noth- 
ing for Louis Philippe to do but to identify himself with 
the party of quiet Constitutionalists which recruited its num- 
bers from the well-to-do middle class or bourgeoisie. By 
that step, however, he declared himself not the head of the 
country, but the head of a party, and gave an undeniable 
basis to the derisive sobriquet of roi- bourgeois (citizen-king) 
fixed upon him by the opposition. 

And there was another and unexpected reason why this 
championship of the capitalist middle class was likely to 



The Revolutions of 1848 533 

prove threatening. As is well known the most important Growth of 
social fact of the nineteenth century is its industrial devel- dustrial 
opment. The growth of manufactures has drawn together classes, 
in the cities vast aggregations of workmen, and the growth 
of intelligence has led these workmen to combine in trades- 
unions and political parties, and to demand increasing 
social and political benefits. The result has been the con- 
flict of capital and labor, for which we have found no 
solution to this day. Now, at the time of Louis Philippe 
this conflict was just beginning, and the phenomenon being 
new, his government was thoroughly dismayed by it. What 
was to be made of the enthusiasts called socialists who were 
advancing all kinds of humane but dangerous programmes? 
That Louis Philippe should have treated these people with 
harshness is not particularly strange, but he ought to have 
considered that he was thereby alienating from his dynasty 
the whole working population of France, and turning them 
over to the Republicans. 

Because of the natural preference of Louis Philippe for Guizot and 
the middle class, the whole period of his government jjin^g^'ad-^ 
(1830-48) has been called the reign of the bourgeoisie, visers. 
And most of the prominent advisers of the king were men 
of that estate. Their programme, as is usual with persons 
of the thriving middle class, had, on the whole, an honest, 
virtuous character, but was disfigured by occasional narrow 
prejudices. The leading men of the Chamber of Deputies 
were Guizot and Thiers, distinguished alike in their day 
for their literary labors, and filled equally with eager pa- 
triotic zeal. They became determined rivals, dividing the 
Chamber between them, and occupying in turn the chief 
place in the ministry. Both were equally resolute in stand- 
ing by Louis Philippe and in fighting the plots of the Le- 
gitimists, the Bonapartists, and the Republicans, but they 
fell out over the important question of the enlargement of 



534 



The Modern Period 



The ques- 
tion of the 
extension 
of the 
suffrage. 



The break- 
down of the 
Orleanist 
monarchy, 
February, 
1848. 



the voting body, which came more to the foreground every 
year, and finally caused a new revolution. 

Now the firanchise situation was anomalous and stood as 
follows : among a population of 30,000,000, there were, ow- 
ing to a high property qualification, only 200,000 voters. 
The discontent of the masses at so absurd a situation was 
rapidly becoming ominous. Thiers, having a warmer 
feeling for. the people than most Orleanists, proposed in 
the chambers again and again an extension of the suffrage. 
Guizot, who in the year 1848 was prime minister, and 
narrow-minded in proportion to his respectability, would 
not even listen to the new demands. Thiers and his friends 
thereupon resolved to stir up public opinion, and so force 
the minister's hand. They held political meetings, coupled 
with banquets, all over the country, and set February 22, 
1848, for a so-called Reform Banquet in Paris. When 
its arrangements were interfered with by the police, the 
meeting was given up, but the great crowd which had gath- 
ered for the celebration thereupon took to parading the 
streets and shouting for the deposition of Guizot. 

The next day (February 23), the king dismissed the 
ministry and made an effort to conciliate the opposition, 
but a company of soldiers having fired at the mob, killing 
and wounding some fifty men, caused the passions of the 
people to flame up anew. Houses were sacked and the pal- 
ace of the Tuileries surrounded by armed men. Finally, on 
February 24, I.ouis Philippe, convinced that discretion was 
the better part of valor, fled from his capital to take refuge, 
as Charles X. had done eighteen years before, in England. 

The cause of monarchy might yet have been saved if 
the deputies, among whom the Constitutionalists had a 
clear majority, had stood their ground like men, and pro- 
claimed the succession of the young grandson of Louis 
Philippe, the count of Paris. But when the rioters broke 



The Revolutions of 1848 



535 



into the parliamentary hall, the frightened members surren- 
dered the field, and sought safety in flight. Thus the rab- 
ble, with the poet Lamartine at its head, found itself mas- 
ter of the situation. Spurred on to act with promptness, 
it declared for a republic, and appointed a provisional 
government of which Lamartine became the moving spirit. 

Thus on February 24, 1848, the republicans had won 
the day. But they were far from being a unanimous party, 
for the socialists formed an important wing of the republi- 
can fold, and that they were not going to permit themselves 
to be simply merged with the majority appeared from the 
first. They secured a representation in the provisional 
government, and straightway demanded the proclamation 
of their Utopian programme. The provisional government 
had to give in so far as to proclaim the so-called " right to 
labor " and to establish " national workshops," where the 
unemployed of Paris were guaranteed a living in the service 
of the state. 

Meanwhile elections had been ordered for a National 
Assembly to settle in detail the forms of the new republic. 
It met at the beginning of May, 1848, and straightway 
taking the control into its own hands, dismissed Lamartine's 
provisional government. Being composed largely of solid, 
order-loving republicans from the country, the Assembly 
was imbued with the strongest antipathy toward the socialist 
city faction, which aspired to manage the state. Sternly it 
made ready to pu4: an end to the prevalent confusion, and 
win Paris back to the principles of law and decency. 
Great masses of troops were concentrated in the city ; then 
the most virulent of the disturbers were put under lock and 
key ; finally (June), the Assembly attacked the root of all 
the difficulties, and dissolved the " national workshops." 

At this juncture the socialists barricaded themselves in 
their quarters, and for four days (June 23 to 26) made a 



A republic 
with a pro- 
visional 
government. 



The so- 
cialist de- 
mands. 



Republicans 

vs. 
Socialists. 



536 



The Modern Period 



The social- 
ists over- 
thrown, 
June, 1848. 



The new 
republican 
constitu- 
tion. 



Louis Napo- 
leon, presi- 
dent. 



Danger 
lurking in 
the election 
of Prince 
Napoleon. 



heroic stand against the troops under General Cavaignac, 
who in this crisis had been appointed dictator. Never had 
Paris, accustomed as it was to rioting, witnessed street- 
fights of such dimensions as it witnessed now : the Social- 
ists were not put down until ten thousand men had been 
stretched dead or wounded upon the pavements. 

The National Assembly, now at last in unquestioned au- 
thority, turned next to its business of making a republican 
constitution. It voted that the legislative function should 
be intrusted to a single chamber, elected on the basis of 
universal suffrage, and it assigned the executive, to a pres- 
ident, elected directly by the people for a period of four 
years. When the constitution prepared on the above lines 
was ready, the Assembly ordered the presidential election 
(December 10, 1848). To the surprise of Europe, Cav- 
aignac, who had been most in sight during the previous 
months, received only a comparatively few votes ; the vast 
majority of ballots were cast for Prince Louis Napoleon. 

Prince Louis Napoleon was the nephew of the great' 
Napoleon and the heir of the Napoleonic traditions. His 
life had been largely spent in banishment, but the revolu- 
tion of 1848 had built a bridge for his return. If he now 
won an astonishing victory at the polls, that was not due 
to any known virtues of his own, but solely to the prestige 
of his famous uncle. However, the election victory of the 
imperial pretender clearly revealed, that although France 
had a republican constitution, a large majority of her people 
were still attached to the principles of monarchy. 



The Revolutions of 1848 537 



(J)) The German, Austrian, and Italian Revolutions 

OF 1848 

LITERATURE.— Fyffe, Chap. XIX. 
Miiller, Period III. (passim). 
Seignobos, Chaps. XII. -XIII. 
Andrews, Vol. I., Chaps. IX. -X. 
Thayer, Dawn of Italian Independence. 2 vols. $4.00. Houghton. 

From 1830 to 1848, Germany and Italy, divided and Central 

impotent, were delivered over to reactionary influences, oreoared to 

But because the liberal and national spirit, fostered by the follow the 

poets and writers, had been steadily growing, the news ^„ France 
of the Paris Revolution of 1848 straightway set both eastern 
neighbors of France on fire. 

In Germany, the month of March saw revolutions every- The tri- 

where. These revolutions were of especial importance at cKt' t° 1"' 

Vienna and Berlin, capitals respectively of Austria and ism at 

Prussia, for by means of the movements in these two cities ggrhn^ ^" 

absolutism was abolished and constitutionalism established March, 

in its place. Thus the liberal party had suddenly realized * 

one-half of its programme — the victory of constitutionalism ; 

no wonder that it now gave its attention to the other half 

— national unity. That Germany must be united became Desire for 

the resolution of all the progressive elements, and in order ""^^y '- ^^^^ 

^ ° German 

to establish that unity there was now called together a Parliament, 
general German Parliament. 

The German Parliament, elected by universal suffrage. The posi- 
met in May, 1848, at Frankfurt-on-the-Main. It was Ge?n?In^^ 
composed in large part of the most distinguished men of Parliament, 
the land, and was animated with a generous zeal for Ger- 
man unity. But intelligence and zeal alone do not suffice 
for lasting performances ; what heart and mind conceive, 
force must realize. Thus the great question before the 
German Parliament was not so much : would it prove itself 



538 The Modern Period 

wise enough, but rather would it have the force to effect 
the changes which it was about to advocate; in other 
words, could it make good the claim which it was putting 
forward of being the sovereign body in Germany ? 
Certainty of For the first few months the German Parliament expe- 
bet\v^en the rienced no difficulties, and even the emperor of Austria and 
Parliament the king of Prussia seemed to have resigned their sovereign 
ernmentf°^' rights to the democratic body sitting at Frankfurt. But 
suppose the case that, on the lessening of the popular press- 
ure at Vienna and Berlin, one or the other of the great 
monarchs refused to accept a decree forwarded from the 
Parliament — what then ? There would then be a conflict 
of authorities which would furnish a test of the relative 
strength of the new national assembly and the old state 
governments. 
The ques- The test was offered, and that soon enough, by the 

tionof Schleswig - Holstein complication. The two duchies of 

bcnleswig ° ^ 

and Hoi- Schleswig and Holstein occupy the southern half of the 
^^^^^' peninsula of Jutland, and are inhabited for the most part 

by a German-speaking people. They were at that time 
united with Denmark in a personal union, that is, their 
duke was also king of Denmark ; but they lived, in spite 
of that fact, under their own laws, of the observance of 
w^hich by the king of Denmark they were exceedingly 
jealous. Now it had lately become apparent that the 
Danish royal house would soon die out in the male line. 
The Danish law provided that, in such an event, the crown 
should pass to the female line ; by the law of the duchies, 
however, the succession to Schleswig-Holstein would fall 
to a secondary male branch. 

In fear of this separation, the king of Denmark pub- 
lished for Schleswig-Holstein, in the year 1846, a new law 
of succession, by virtue of which the union of Denmark and 
the duchies was secured for all time. The disaffection 



The Revolutions of 1848 539 

aroused thereby throughout the duchies was general, and The revolt 
in 1848 the Schleswig-Holsteiners, encouraged by the gen- duchies 
eral confusion in Europe, boldly cast off the Danish yoke. 1848. 
Since as Germans they appealed to the Parliament at 
Frankfurt for help, that body, claiming to represent the 
German name, could not remain deaf to their cries. It The Parlia- 
ordered Prussia and some other states of the north to march "^^" ^ P^* 
their troops into the duchies, and in the name of Germany 
drive the Danes out. That feat was soon accomplished, 
for the Danes are not a powerful nation ; but the Danes 
took revenge by destroying the Prussian shipping of the 
Baltic. This the king of Prussia stood for awhile, but 
when in the course of the summer it seemed to him that 
the tide of revolution in Germany was running lower, he 
took heart, and, without consulting the German Parliament, 
signed a truce with the Danes which practically delivered 
the brave Schleswig-Holsteiners over to their Danish mas- 
ters (August 26, 1848). When the Parliament heard of 
this act it was furious against the disobedient king. There Prussia 
was talk for a time of civil war; but the talk subsided ^^^rate 
very quickly, and, on second thoughts, the Parliament en- peace, 
dorsed everything which Prussia had done. The long and jg^^"^ ' 
short of the situation was that Prussia had an army and the 
Parliament not. But Prussia having by this occurrence The Parlia- 
discovered the essential impotence of the Parliament, to^prussia 
would not the other governments before long discover it 
too? In fact, the local governments began gradually to 
pick up courage, and as early as September, 1848, it was 
plain that the national Parliament at Frankfurt was a beau- 
tiful illusion. 

While the local revolutions, the national Parliament at 
Frankfurt, and the Schleswig-Holstein war were engaging 
the attention of Germany, Italy was stirred from Sicily to 
the Alps by a similar political movement, for at the first 



540 



The Modern Period 



Milan and 

Venice rise 

against 

Austria, 

March, 

1848. 



All Italy 
resolves to 
help. 



The Aus- 
trians crush 
the king of 
Sardinia 
and his 
Italian al- 
lies, 1848- 
49- 



Sardinia 

makes 

peace, 

March, 

1849. 



Lombardy 
and Venice 
recon- 
quered. 



news of the revolution at Vienna, Milan and Venice had 
risen against tlie Austrians, driven out the troops, and de- 
clared for independence (March, 1848). Then they had 
set up provisional governments and called upon Charles 
Albert, king of Sardinia, and the other Italian governments 
to come to their help against the foreign tyrants. As the 
revolutionary fever had already seized Tuscany, Rome, and 
the other states, and the liberal spirit was everywhere tri- 
umphant, assistance was freely promised from all sides, and 
in the spring of 1848 Italian troops, contributed by all the 
provinces of the peninsula, converged in long lines upon 
the middle course of the Po. The expected war of all Italy 
against the Austrian oppressor was at length engaged. 

Of the motley Italian army thus hurriedly mobilized to 
assist the Lombards and Venetians, Charles Albert, king of 
Sardinia, assumed the command. The fact that he was the 
head of the house of Savoy, the oldest ruling family of 
Italy, and that he had expressed his sympathy with the con- 
stitutional and national aspirations of his countrymen, 
pointed him out to all Italians as their natural leader. But 
when the clash came at Custozza on July 25, 1848, the 
Austrians won, scattered the Italian forces, and straightway 
re-entered Milan. Sick at heart, Charles Albert now ab- 
dicated, and was succeeded by his son, the famous Victor 
Emmanuel II. (March, 1849). When young Victor Em- 
manuel professed his willingness to sign a peace, Austria, 
harassed sufficiently in other quarters, made no objections. 
By the terms of the peace agreement the defeated monarch 
of Sardinia-Piedmont paid a money-fine to Austria, but did 
not lose a foot of territory. 

Before that document was signed, Austria had already re- 
established her hold on Lombardy, and now, after a brave 
resistance on the part of the people, she put her yoke on 
Venice as well. TIius, only a little over a year after the 



The Revolutions of 1848 541 

hopeful rising of March, 1848, the Austrian soldiers had 
again laid the Italian north at their feet. But to the Ital- 
ians the war had nevertheless brought a benefit. Through 
stinging disaster they had learned the lesson that they must 
stand shoulder to shoulder if their righteous cause was ever 
to triumph ; and they had become persuaded by a com- 
radeship of arms, no less sacred because disastrous, that the 
house of Savoy was their natural point of union. 

While Sardinia was fighting a futile battle for Milan and Liberal in- 
Venice in the north, the states of the centre and south, ^.j^g centre 
Tuscany, Rome, and Naples, had also been shaken by and south 
revolutions. Everywhere, the liberals had been successful reaction, 
for awhile, but when the Austrians had triumphed in the 
north, the reaction thus begun, perforce affected the south 
and swiftly brought back all the old petty despots. In 
Rome alone did this game of revolution and reaction as- 
sume a form that makes it worth attending to. 

In the year 1848, Pius IX., a very earnest and affable The Pope, 
man, who had won the favor of his subjects by a number of between ' 
generous measures, was sovereign Pontiff and lord of the two fires. 
States of the Church. He sympathized somewhat with the 
liberal party, and on the first stirrings of the revolution 
granted his people a constitution. Only when it came to 
joining in the national war with the rest of Italy against 
Austria did he call a halt. A universal pope, he argued, 
leading Catholics to be slaughtered by other Catholics was 
a ludicrous and impossible figure. On the other hand, the 
Romans generally maintained, and with as much show of 
reason, that an Italian prince who contributed nothing to 
the overthrow of the tyrants of Italy was no better than a 
traitor. Now it was that the pope began to experience the 
calamity of his double position as a spiritual and a temporal 
ruler. In his dilemma he adopted contradictory measures ; 
but the Romans, who wished passionately to help their 



542 



The Modern Period 



The Pope 
flees, No- 
vember, 
1848. 



The Roman 
republic. 



The Pope 
restored by 
the French. 



Austria 
apparently 
in dissolu- 
tion. 



Lombard brethren against Austria, grew so dangerously 
restless that Pius IX. finally fled from the city, and took 
refuge in Gaeta, on Neapolitan soil (November 24, 1848). 
Thereupon Rome fell completely into the hands of the 
revolutionists under the leadership of the famous agitator 
Mazzini, and at Mazzini's instigation, the pope was de- 
clared to have forfeited his temporal dignities, and the 
papal dominions were proclaimed a republic. 

Mazzini's new Roman republic never had more than a 
fighting chance to live. Catholic peoples the world over 
were horrified at its high-handed treatment of the Holy 
Father, and Louis Napoleon, the new president of the 
French republic, was delighted at the opportunity offered 
by the Roman events to curry favor with the Catholic 
clergy and peasantry of France. He now sent an army to 
Rome to sweep Mazzini and his republicans out of the city. 
General Garibaldi, who had been made commander-in- 
chief, made a gallant fight, but in the end had to give 
way to numbers. In July, 1849, the French entered the 
conquered city, the old papal rule was re-established, and 
a few months later the hated Pope himself returned to the 
Vatican. 

But while the reaction was winning these victories in 
Italy, it was making ready to celebrate great triumphs also 
in Germany and Austria. And first as to Austria. In the 
spring of 1848, Austria, that empire of many races, seemed 
to have gone to wrack and ruin, for hardly had the Ger- 
mans revolted at Vienna, when all the other Austrian peo- 
ples followed suit. In a few weeks there were separate 
revolutions among the Slavs (Czechs) at Prague, among 
the Hungarians at Budapest, and among the Italians at 
Milan and Venice ; Austria seemed destined to fall into 
four independent states corresponding to the four lead- 
ing races of which she was made up. If that dissolu- 



The Revolutions of 1848 543 

tion did not actually occur in 1848, it is due solely to Salvation 

one institution — the Austrian army. During all the dis- o'^P^^^^ on 

•' ° the army. 

turbances the army held loyally together under its natural 
head, the emperor, and gradually restored quiet. 

The army first put down the revolution of the riotous The army 
Slavs at Prague, and then the revolution of the Germans at r^ "chs th^ 
Vienna. This was comparatively easy work, real difficult- Germans, 
ies arising only when the army approached the problem of ^^alian^s in 
reducing to order the Italians and the Hungarians. How- quick order, 
ever, when, at Custozza, the submission of the Italians, too, 
had been secured (July 25, 1848), the government and 
army could concentrate their attention upon Budapest. 

Although the Hungarians had bowed for centuries to the The Hunga- 
yoke of the Hapsburgs, they had never lost their proud in- UQ^g j-ule 
dependent spirit. Under their leader, Louis Kossuth, they 
had now, in the summer of 1848, made themselves as good 
as independent. They did not object to a ruler of the 
house of Hapsburg, but they wished to be free of the con- 
nection with the other parts of the many-tongued empire. 
As the programme of the emperor and his ministry was, in 
sharp contrast to the Hungarian idea, the maintenance of 
the indivisible Hapsburg realm, an Austrian general moved 
in the winter into Hungary at the head of 100,000 troops. 

The Hungarians fought splendidly for their freedom, and Russia and 
at first actually drove the Austrians back ; but Kossuth, "^"^^i^^fL 
over-elated at his success, made the mistake of proclaiming Hungarian 
Hungary independent (April, 1849), and immediately Czar /fyfust"' 
Nicholas, in alarm at the progress of the democratic spirit 1849. 
at his very border, offered to help out his brother of Aus- 
tria with a flank attack. In the summer the Austrians 
from the west and the Russians from the east caught the 
Hungarians between them and quickly made an end of 
their resistance (August, 1849). Hungary, broken in 
spirit and resources, stolidly reassumed the Austrian yoke. 



544 ^^'^ Modern Period 

Austria As for Austria, she had, after a year of terrible commo- 

again on her ^j^j-jg^ successively subdued the revolution among her Slav, 
her German, her Italian, and her Hungarian subjects, and 
was now again a great power under the absolute govern- 
ment of her yotmg emperor, Francis Joseph, who had only 
just succeeded his uncle, Ferdinand, on the throne (De- 
cember, 1848). 
The reac- The victory of the reaction in Austria was sure to affect 

to Germanv S^^^^ly the affairs of Prussia and Germany, for just as revo- 
lution begot revolution, so reaction begot reaction Hardly, 
therefore, had the reaction begun to triumph in Austria, 
before Frederick William IV. of Prussia dismissed the 
Prussian Diet at Berlin, which was at work making a con- 
stitution for the kingdom. However, Frederick William 
Prussia gets showed some moderation. Of his own free will he pre- 
tion"i84o" scnted the people, in February, 1849, with a constitution, 
and although it was not as democratic as could have been 
wished, it at least secured the Prussian people a share in 
the government. Revolution was thus put down in Prussia 
as elsewhere, but here, almost alone, the king had been 
wise enough to accept the more moderate popular demands. 
We left the German Parliament at Frankfurt at the time 
of its first great discomfiture, in the matter of the Schles- 
wig-Holstein war (September, 1848). That difficulty had 
The German proved that the Parliament could not exact obedience from 

Parhament ^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ jj^.^ pj-uggja. But if that was the case before 
endangered ° 

by the the triumph of the governments at Vienna and Berlin over 

reaction. ^j^^ revolutionists, how would matters stand after these 

governments had recovered their strength ? 
The crown Although the members of the Parliament were themselves 

Fred^edck l^itterly conscious that their power was waning, they kept 
William IV. bravely to the task for which they had been called together. 
of Prussia. j^^ ^^^^ course of the winter (1848-49) they completed their 

constitution for united Germany; there now remained 



The Revolutions of 1S48 545 

only the difficult matter of finding a head for the new 
constitution — an emperor, for which honor the choice nat- 
urally lay between the two greatest German princes, the 
emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia, The question 
of their respective merits was hotly debated, but the fact 
that Prussia was more of a German state than disjointed 
Austria, finally won a majority for Frederick William IV. 
When, however, a deputation from the Parliament waited The crown 
upon the king to offer him the crown of Germany, he re- [^pj-ji 1840) 
fused to accept it, first, because of its democratic origin, 
and secondly, because of the threat of Austria that she 
would make war rather than see Prussia assume the head- 
ship of Germany. 

The refusal naturally annihilated the Parliament. There The Bund 
were a few final convulsions of the revolutionary monster ^ 
here and there, and then there was quiet. Fate seemed to 
have decided that there should be no united Germany. 
Taking advantage of the feeling of resignation which seized 
upon the land, Austria now proposed to the governments 
to reinstate the old ludicrous Bund, which the events of 
1848 had swept out of existence. The Bund, with its 
Diet, in which the various government delegates met, 
talked, and decided nothing, seemed the best thing Ger- 
many was capable of. 

In this general collapse of German hopes and illusions Schleswig 
the Schleswig-Holsteiners, who had built their revolution g^ejn 
on the prospect of a united Germany, could not escape crushed, 
disaster. Abandoned by Prussia in August, 1848, they 
continued to fight manfully against the Danes for their 
freedom. Finally, Russia and England were moved to 
interfere. They called a conference of the powers at Lon- 
don (1850), which determined that the unruly duchies of 
Schleswig and Holstein were to be inseparably connected 
with the Danish crown. Outwardly the duchies now bowed 



546 The Modern Period 

to the inevitable, but an inner acceptance of the unjust 

decree no amount of pressure could wring out of them. It 

was evident that they would rise again at a more auspicious 

moment. 

Another With the German Parliament dissolved, the Schleswig- 

reign of re- Holsteiners delivered over to the Danes, the JBi/m/ recon- 
action. 

stituted at Frankfurt, it seemed, in the year 1851, that the 
JNIetternichian era had come again. The patriots were 
filled with despair. But as far as they were thoughtful 
men, they must have made this observation : the move- 
ment of 1S48 had failed because it was a merely popular 
action, which took no account of the established authori- 
ties. The established authorities had, therefore, been its 
enemy, and had ruined it. If, in the future, the govern- 
ments themselves would take up the national movement, 
and direct it into sensible channels, would there not then 
be more chance of success ? 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. The "National W'orkshops " and the Fkench Socialists of 1848. An- 

drews, Vol. I., pp. 339-357- Seignobos, pp. 159-165. 
On Socialism see Cossa, Political Economy, p. 389 ff. 

2. M.A.zziNi's Roman Republic. Andrews. Vol. I., p. 392 ff. , p. 413 ff- Still- 

man, /Aj/j (1815-95). $1.60. Macmillan. Sh. IX. Thayer, /><jrt'« 
0/ Italian Independettce, Vol. II. 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

FRANCE UNDER NAPOLEON III.— THE UNIFICATION 

OF ITALY 

LITERATURE.— FyflFe, Muller, Seignobos, Andrews (as before). 
SWWmSia, Union 0/ Italy {\ii5-<iS)- $i-6o. Macmillan. 

The Napo- Prince Louis Napoleon, on being elected to the presidency 

a °anda'°^" °^ ^^^ French Republic (December, 1848), justified very 

quickly the suspicions entertained against him. One of 

his first acts was to put down, with French troops, the 



France under Napoleon III. 547 

Roman Republic of Mazzini and Garibaldi (June, 1849). 
Republics evidently were not his hobby. He then sys- 
tematically undermined the constitution, and when every- 
thing was ready, he overthrew it on December 2, 185 1, by 
a coup a' etat. Shortly after he gave the country of his The coup 
own gift a new and strongly monarchical constitution, and December 2 
exactly a year after the coup cT etat, on December 2, 1852, 1851. 
he assumed the title of Emperor Napoleon III. The 
new constitution assured a share in the government to a 
senate and a legislative body, but the share was hardly 
more than nominal, 

A Napoleonic empire could only be maintained by mili- Napoleon's 
tary successes which flattered the vanity of the French yg^t'ure 
people. So at least Napoleon argued, and directed in 
consequence all the efforts of his reign toward attempts at 
harvesting what is ordinarily called ''glory." These at- 
tempts won him at first an enviable position ; they ended 
by plunging him and his country into defeat and misery. 

The first opening for Napoleon's policy of adventure was The Cri- 
offered in the east. Czar Nicholas had lately made the ^g^^" ^^^^ 
somewhat obvious discovery that the Sultan was " a sick 
man." Being convinced that he, Nicholas, was the Sultan's 
natural heir, he held it to be a piece of unnecessary polite- 
ness to wait for the "sick man's" death before he took 
possession of the heritage, and suddenly demanded of the 
Sultan to be recognized as the protector of all the Greek 
Christians resident in Turkey. When the Sultan refused, 
Nicholas invaded Moldavia (July, 1853). Europe being 
filled with indignation at this high-handed measure, Eng- 
land and France joined hands and presented a solemn pro- 
test to the Czar. When Russia gave no heed to the joint 
remonstrance, the two western powers made an alliance 
with Turkey, and declared war (March, 1854). 

The Russian campaign of 1854 was a complete failure. 



548 The Modern Period 

The siege of The Russian forces tried to take the Danubian fortresses, 
bebas opo . ^^^^j. ^^ being repulsed by the Turks, withdrew in June from 
the invaded territory. When the French and Enghsh ar- 
rived upon the scene, they resolved to attack the great 
Russian stronghold in the Crimea, Sebastopol. But unfort- 
unately for the western powers the capture proved no easy 
matter. Sebastopol, admirably defended by the Russians, 
was taken only after a siege which lasted a whole year, 
and is one of the most memorable events of the kind in his- 
tory. But the final surrender of Sebastopol in September, 
1855, thoroughly discouraged the Russians. As the war- 
The Pedce like Nicholas had died in March of the same year, and been 
"sTtf^'^' succeeded by his son, Alexander II. (1855-81), there was 
now no further obstacle to peace. At a Congress held at 
Paris, Russia, in exchange for Sebastopol, gave up her pre- 
tensions in Turkey, and the Sultan was received among 
the great powers and solemnly guaranteed against inter- 
ference from without (March, 1856). 

Napoleon The Peace of Paris, dictated by Napoleon in his own 

turns to new . , r *i • i.i i c c ^ 

enterprises capital, won for the empire the place of first power in 

Europe. But Napoleon was not satisfied. Attracted by 

the prospect of a military glory still greater than that 

won in the Crimea, he now began to turn his attention to 

Italy. 

Policy of A welcome excuse for interesting himself in the affairs of 

Emmanuel ^'^'^ transalpine peninsula was furnished Napoleon by the 

and Cavour. fact that Sardinia-Piedmont, the largest native state of 

Italy, had voluntarily sought his friendship and alliance. 

Since the War of 1848, King Victor Emmanuel was firmly 

held by all Italians to be the future unifier of Italy. The 

practical question before the recognized champion of Italy 

was : what measures would speed the liberation of his 

country? Luckily Victor Emmanuel found a gifted adviser 

in Count Cavour, and under Cavour's guidance, Sardinia 



France under Napoleon 111. 549 



entered, about the middle of the century, upon a pohcy 
which led finally to the complete gratification of the na- 
tional desires. 

Cavour argued simply that the leading obstacle to Ital- Alliance of 
ian unity was Austria — Austria, which held Lombardy and ^^^ France 
Venice, and dictated her policy to all the little tyrannical against 
princes of the peninsula. Alone Sardinia could not defeat 
the Danubian empire; the year 1848 had proved that. It 
was therefore necessary to find an ally for the inevitable 
future war. Cautiously Cavour sought the friendship of 
Napoleon, and in the year 1859 signed with him a close alli- 
ance. When Austria, guessing the purport of the alliance, 
ordered Sardinia to disarm, and on her prompt refusal oc- 
cupied her territory, the war which Cavour so ardently de- 
sired broke out (spring, 1859). 

The real campaign did not begin till June, 1859, and The Italian 
then was over in a few weeks. By the two great victories ^ 
of Magenta and Solferino, the French and the Sardinians 
drove the Austrians back from the Lombard plain into their 
strongholds. Italy was ablaze with bonfires; Napoleon 
evoked, wherever he appeared, a boundless enthusiasm. 
But just as everybody was expecting that he would now 
finish the good work by driving the Austrians completely 
across the Alps, he suddenly turned round, and, without 
consulting the Sardinians, signed a truce with the enemy. 
To this step he was urged by a variety of considerations. 
First, the Italian situation, with the Italians themselves 
loudly clamoring for unification, was full of danger, and 
secondly, Prussia might at any time join Austria and at- 
tack France on the Rhine. Everything considered, Na- Sardinia 
poleon judged that he had better be satisfied with the glory Lombardy 
gained and retire. Of course Victor Emmanuel was furious, 
but what could he do? In the peace that followed, he got 
Lombardy as his share in the victory, but had to leave 



550 



The Modern Period 



France ac- 
quires Nice 
and Savoy. 



Garibaldi 
conquers 
Sicily and 
Naples, 
i860. 



The States 
of the 

Church, ex- 
cept Rome, 
declare for 
Sardinia. 



Victor Em- 
manuel be- 
comes king 
of Italy, 
1861. 



Venetia in the hands of the Austrians. Napoleon, in re- 
turn for the French assistance, obtained from Sardinia the 
cession of Nice and Savoy. 

But the first step in the unification of Italy had been 
taken, and the process once begun was not likely to be 
checked. In fact, Victor Emmanuel and Cavour, with 
the north in their hands, now considered themselves strong 
enough to do something on their own account, and secretly 
permitted General Garibaldi, the bold leader of volunteers, 
to fit out a small expedition for the conquest of the kingdom 
of Naples. In May, i860, Garibaldi proceeded by sea, 
w'itii an escort of only 1,000 men, to Sicily. The Island 
was conquered at a rush ; Garibaldi, the liberator, had only 
to appear, and the tyrannical government of the Bourbon 
king of Naples, whom everybody hated, fell to pieces. In 
September, he entered the city of Naples, and the Bourbon 
king, Francis II., having fled in terror from his capital, 
was declared deposed and his country annexed to Sardinia. 
At the same time, all the papal provinces, except the ter- 
ritory immediately about Rome, which was held by the 
French troops, followed the example of the king of Naples, 
and declared for Victor Emmanuel. 

Italy was now complete but for Venetia in the north- 
east, held by Austria, and Rome, in the centre, held by 
the Pope with the assistance of the French. For Garibaldi 
to attack either of these two provinces meant a declaration 
of war against a great power, and Victor Emmanuel and 
Cavour wisely decided that they were not yet ready for 
such an undertaking. They therefore resolved to consol- 
idate first what they had got, and bide their time. Ac- 
cordingly, in February, 1861, there met at Turin, the 
capital of Piedmont, the first general Italian Parliament. 
It was a proud moment for Italy when the king in his 
opening speech recounted the auspicious events of the past 



France under Napoleon III. 551 

years, and then, in obedience to the wishes of the Parha- 
ment, assumed the style of king of Italy. 

Of course the hot-blooded Garibaldi, backed by a con- The king 
siderable party of patriots, urged the government to take ^^i?-n ^ 
Rome and Venice by an immediate war. But the king policy, 
and his minister Cavour would not hear of this advice, and 
even after the king's great counsellor had died (June, 
1 861) Victor Emmanuel clung to a waiting policy. And 
in the end it bore its fruits. 

In the year 1866 there broke out the long-threatening The war of 
war between the two German powers, Austria and Prussia. ^ 
That was a legitimate opportunity for Italy, and Italy and 
Prussia straightway formed a close alliance, and together 
proceeded to attack Austria from the north and south. 
Although the Italian part of the joint campaign was very 
unfortunate, the Italian army being defeated at Custozza 
(June), and the Italian fleet even more signally off Lissa, 
in the Adriatic (July), the great Prussian victory of Sadowa 
made good these Italian calamities, and forced Austria to 
accept the terms submitted by the allies. Venetia, the 
last Austrian foothold south of the Alps, accordingly be- Italy ac- 
came a part of Italy, and in November, 1866, Victor Em- S,"^'^esVen- 
manuel made his triumphal entry into the City of the 
Lagoons. 

Rome alone now remained to be won. And if the Italy ac- 

Romans had been left free to choose, there is no doubt J"^''^^ „ 

Rome, 1870. 

what course they would have pursued. But Napoleon's 

troops held the city for the Pope, and neither the Romans 
nor Victor Emmanuel dared encourage a revolution in the 
papal capital out of fear of provoking a French war. At 
length patience, here as in the case of Venice, brought the 
due reward. On the outbreak, in 1870, of the great Franco- 
German War, Napoleon saw himself reduced to the ne- 
cessity of recalling his Roman troops in order to put them 



552 The Modern Period 

into the field against Germany. Immediately Victor Em- 
manuel, disembarrassed of the French, marched his army 
to the gates of Rome, and seized the city (September, 1870). 
The Pope protested clamorously, but in spite of his un- 
compromising attitude was not disturbed by the victorious 
Italians in his quarter of the Vatican. There he has since 
resided, but the glorious City of the Seven Hills, definitely 
lost to him, became, as the great majority of the nation 
ardently desired, the capital of the reborn ItaUan state. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Napoleon's Coup d'Hat of 1851. 

Andrews, Vol. II., Chap. I. Seignobos, Chap. VI. 
Forbes, Life of Napoleon III. $3.00. Chatto & Windus. 

2. Cavour as a Statesman. 

Cesaresco, Cavour (Statesmen). $0.75. Macmillan. 
Mazade, Cavour. $4.00. Chapman & HaU. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

THE UNIFICATION OF GERMANY 

LITERATURE. — Fyffe, Miiller, Seignobos, Andrews (as before). 

Von Sybel, Founding of the German Empire under Willium I. 7 vols. 
$14.00. Crowell. 

The lesson The year 1848 had not passed over Germany without 

°8/i8^ ^^^^ result. It was a real gain, for instance, that Prussia, by 
acquiring a constitution (1849), had confirmed the princi- 
ple of constitutionalism in Germany, and it was a cause for 
congratulation that the national spirit had, at least for a 
moment, commanded all hearts. But it was also undenia- 
ble that the national aspirations would have to be realized 
by more practical measures than the paper resolutions of the 
poi)ular Parliament at Frankfurt ; they would have to be 
realized by an organized force. So at least argued William 



1848. 



The Unification of Germany 553 

of Prussia, who in the year 1858 succeeded^ his brother, 

Frederick William IV. 

William was a practical, soldierly gentleman, quite the William 

opposite of his romantic, ineffective brother, and had °""*^^ "*^ 
^ ^ ' ' plans on a 

hardly arrived at power when he resolved to create a strong strong 
army. But in his attempt to fashion a strong army, the ^^'"y- 
sovereign stumbled upon an obstacle. The liberal majority 
in the Prussian Diet objected to the army expenditures, re- 
fused to authorize them, and thus created a sharp conflict Trouble 
between the king and the legislature. But the king was tine and 
a soldier without fear ; the reform which he knew to be legislature, 
good he was determined to carry out in spite of his Diet, 
and, therefore, in the year 1862, he called to his support 
as prime-minister a resolute adherent of royalty, Otto von Bismarck. 
Bismarck. This naturally did not improve the relations 
of king and legislature, and things were going from bad to 
worse, when there occurred a number of events which drew 
the attention of the people away from internal affairs. 

In the year 1863 King Frederick VII. of Denmark died The second 
and was succeeded, with the acquiescence of all the Euro- s^cMes'°"- 
pean powers, by his relative. Christian IX. Christian IX. Holstein, 
was at first recognized in Schleswig-Holsteiil also, but when ^ ^' 
he ventured to publish a constitution, by which he incor- 
porated the northernmost duchy, Schleswig, directly with 
Denmark, he was straightway repudiated by the whole Ger- 
man population of the two provinces. Of course all Ger- 
many was greatly agitated in behalf of its Schleswig-Hol- The 
stein brothers, and, as in 1848, threatened a national war Schleswig- 
against Denmark. Taking advantage of the situation Bis- war, 1864. 
marck now persuaded Austria to associate herself with Prus- 
sia, in order that the Danish difficulty might be settled in 



' William was at first only regent for his brother ; he became king in 
1861, 



554 



The Modern Period 



Bismarck 
quarrels 
with 
Austria 
over the 
division of 
Schleswig- 
Holstein. 



Meaning of 
the war of 
1866. 



Sadowa, 
July 3- 



an orderly way. Accordingly, in January, 1864, Prussian 
and Austrian troops entered the duchies side by side. 
In a quick campaign Denmark was disarmed, and in Octo- 
ber she saw herself reduced to the necessity of ceding 
Schleswig and Holstein to the victors. 

Now that Prussia and Austria possessed the duchies, the 
question was how to divide the spoils. Of course the di- 
vision turned out, to Bismarck's great delight, a difficult 
matter. Austria not being willing to give up her position 
in Germany, the Prussian prime-minister had long been 
planning to make her give it up by force, and here was the 
Schleswig-Holstein booty, the very matter over which to 
pick a plausible quarrel. Finally, in the spring of 1866, 
Prussia signed a close alliance with Italy, while Austria, for 
her part, sought the support of the smaller German states. 

These dispositions made — Prussia having secured the 
support of Italy, and Austria the alliance of Bavaria, Sax- 
ony, and most of the other German states — in June, 1866, 
the two apparently well-matched combatants took the 
field. The contest was the culmination of the rivalry, in- 
augurated over a hundred years ago, at the time of Freder- 
ick the Great and Maria Theresa; the prize of the winner 
was to be the supremacy in Germany. 

Now it was seen that King William's plan of a strong 
and modern army had its merits. The Prussians Avere 
ready sooner than the Austrians, and showed themselves to 
be much better armed and disciplined. By the admirable 
arrangements of the great strategist, Moltke, three Prussian 
columns were made to converge upon the Austrians, and 
enclosing them at Sadowa, in Bohemia, on July 3, as in a 
vise, crushed them utterly. The war had hardly begun 
when it was over. It was of little consequence that the 
Austrians in Italy defeated the Italians at Custozza or that 
the Prussians defeated the South Germans. Austria proper 



The Vilification of Germany 



555 



lay at the feet of Prussia, and had to make peace. A truce 
in July was followed in August, 1866, by the definitiv^e 
Peace of Prague. 

By the Peace of Prague Austria accepted her exclusion 
from Germany, and agreed to any reconstruction of Ger- 
many which Prussia should carry out. Territorially she 
was not heavily punished : she had to cede Venetia to 
Italy, and her share in Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. 
These arrangements made, Bismarck proceeded to make 
peace with the German allies of Austria. Bavaria, Wur- 
temberg, and the South German states in general were let 
off with a money fine, but most of the hostile North Ger- 
man states, as for example, Hanover and Nassau, were in- 
corporated with Prussia. 

Then Bismarck proceeded to replace the old Bund by an 
effective central government, and formed among the states 
north of the river Main, the North German Confederation, 
with Prussia at its head. With wise moderation, he made 
no effort to force the South German states into the new 
union ; they were, for the most part. Catholic and opposed 
to Protestant Prussia ; then they had just been defeated in 
a bitter civil war. From 1866 to 1870, Germany, there- 
fore, consisted of two distinct parts — a strong united north 
under the leadership of Prussia, and a feeble south of the 
four detached states, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, and 
Hesse. Then there happened something which spontane- 
ously brought the two parts together, and completed the 
unification of Germany : France declared war and threat- 
ened Germany with invasion. 

We met the Emperor Napoleon last in the Italian cam- 
paign of 1859. That campaign marks the zenith of his 
life, for after 1859 he no longer prospered. His occupation 
of Rome lost him his popularity among the Italians. Then 
in an evil hour he turned his desires upon the New World. 



Prussia 
makes 
peace with 
Austria and 
the South 
German 
states. 



Bismarck 
forms the 
North Ger- 
man Con- 
federation. 



The decline 
of Napoleon 
III. 



556 



The Modern Period 



The Mexi- 
can muddle. 



France 
grows jeal- 
ous of 
Prussia. 



The 

Spanish in- 
cident of 
1870. 



He was led to interfere in the internal affairs of Mexico, and 
finding that that repubhc made but a feeble resistance, he 
overturned it, and set up an empire under the archduke 
Maximilian, brother of the emperor of Austria (1863). But 
the Monroe Doctrine, cherished by all Americans, had been 
flagrantly set aside by the French invasion, and as soon as 
the Civil War, which was then embarrassing the United 
States, was over. Secretary Seward gave Napoleon to under- 
stand that he must withdraw immediately. Napoleon 
shuffled awhile, but in the end did not have the courage 
to refuse. The French sailed for Europe, and Maximil- 
ian, deserted by his allies, was captured and shot (1867). 
Thereupon the Mexicans re-established their republic. 

The shame of this disgraceful ending was not the worst 
feature about the Mexican adventure. Owing to the ab- 
sence of the best French troops in the New World, the 
Emperor Napoleon could exercise no influence on the issue 
of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Thus it happened 
that Prussia came out of the war with a greatly increased 
territory, but France won from the embarrassment of the 
German powers nothing whatever. Now the French hav- 
ing for centuries entertained the hope of extending their 
territory to the Rhine, were angry with Napoleon for hav- 
ing missed the opportunity offered by the Austro-Prussian 
War to gain that end. More and more passionately public 
opinion began to clamor for some territorial increase to off- 
set the growth of Prussia. Consequently the relations 
between France and Prussia became gradually worse. A 
little incident sufficed to precipitate war. 

The Spanish throne happening in the year 1870 to be 
vacant, the Cortes — that is, the Spanish Parliament — offered 
the throne to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern. As this 
prince was a relative of King William of Prussia, the can- 
didature caused great excitement at Paris. Largely on 



The Unification of Germany 557 

this account, Leopold withdrew ; but Napoleon, not sat- 
isfied with the withdrawal pure and simple, wanted a 
promise from King William that he would never permit 
Leopold to be a candidate in the future. This demand 
King William curtly rejected. Thereupon Napoleon, with 
the full consent of his legislature, declared war (July 19, 
1870). 

In the struggle which now ensued. Napoleon hoped that South Ger- 
the South German states would, out of hatred of Prussia, ^de^o°" ^^^ 
side with him. But these states, remembering in Germa- Prussia. 
ny's hour of need both their written and unwritten obliga- 
tions, put their forces under the command of the Prussian 
king. Not Prussia merely, but for the first time in cen- 
turies a united Germany marched to meet the German foe. 

The German forces in the beginning of August invaded The German 
France. On August 6 the Crown Prince Frederick of victories. 
Prussia came up with the army of Marshal MacMahon at 
Worth, and defeated it so roundly that it had to abandon Worth. 
Alsace. The second French army, stationed in Lorraine, 
now fell back on the great fortress Metz. There the great 
German strategist, Moltke, determined on shutting it in, 
and after fighting the murderous battle of Gravelotte (Aug- Gravelotte. 
ust 18), succeeded in doing so. One-half of the German 
forces were now detailed for the investment of Metz, while 
the other half pushed westward to find MacMahon, who, 
having recovered from his defeat at Worth, was hurrying 
on to relieve Metz. 

At Sedan, on September ist, MacMahon's forces once The surren- 
more met the Germans, and on the next day, seeing that ^^r of Sedan, 
resistance was hopeless, the whole French force surren- 2, 1870. 
dered. Napoleon, who was present with his army, was 
sent as a prisoner across the Rhine, while the victorious 
Germans continued their march westward, and toward the 
end of September undertook the investment of Paris, 



558 



The Modern Period 



The Third 
Republic. 



Capitula- 
tionof Paris, 
followed by 
peace. 



The crea- 
tion of the 
German Em 
pire, 1871. 



The consti- 
tution of the 
new empire. 



Meanwhile, important things had happened in the capi- 
tal of France. The calamity of Sedan was hardly known 
when the whole city of Paris rose in indignation against the 
luckless imperial government. The Empress Eugenie was 
driven from her palace, and France once more declared a 
Republic (September 4). At the same time, a number 
of men, the most prominent of whom was Gambetta, set up, 
for the purpose of effectively prosecuting the war, the Gov- 
ernment of the National Defence. 

The siege of Paris marks the last stage of the war. 
Gambetta made a most active and honorable resistance, 
but his raw levies were no match, in the long run, for the 
disciplined soldiers of Germany. On January 28, 187 1, 
Paris, disheartened by the surrender of Metz (October), 
and reduced to the last extremes of misery and hunger, 
capitulated, and the war was over. France had to buy 
peace from her enemies by paying a war indemnity of one 
billion dollars, and by ceding to them the provinces of 
Alsace and Lorraine. 

As for Germany the war effected as important a change 
of government as in France. The great victories, won by 
the united efforts of north and south, created the desire for 
a permanent union, and accordingly, on January 18, 1871, 
at Versailles, King William of Prussia was proclaimed 
German Emperor. 

About the same time there was completed a constitution 
for the new German Empire which was merely the con- 
stitution of the North German Confederation, so enlarged 
as to embrace the South German states. By virtue of 
this instrument Germany was organized as a federal gov- 
ernment like the United States of America. The con- 
stitution recognizes twenty-five states of various size. The 
governments of these twenty-five send delegates to an up- 
per house, called the Bundesrath, while the people elect, 



The Unification of Germany 559 

on the basis of direct and universal suffrage, the members 
of a second house, called the Reichstag. Bundesrath and 
Reichstag together make the laws ; the king of Prussia, in 
his capacity of German emperor and head of the confed- 
eration, executes them. By this union Germany after long 
centuries again became a great power. 

France, in the months immediately following the peace The riots 

with Germany, went through a terrible crisis. The Re- °f„^iL^ ^,^^' 
■' ' ° mune, 1071. 

public being at that time not yet fairly on its feet, the 
lawless elements of Paris made an attempt to set up a gov- 
ernment of their own, which they called the Commune. 
The Commune actually acquired possession of the capital, 
and by confiscations, murders, and other atrocities main- 
tained its hold upon it for two months (March-May, 1871). 
But in May the patriot Thiers, who was appointed first 
executive of the new Republic, having collected a consid- 
erable force about him at Versailles, sent forth Marshal 
MacMahon to take the offensive against the Parisian revo- 
lutionists. After a long siege and fearful street-fights, last- 
ing a whole week, the forces of the Commune were shattered 
to pieces. In their fanatical hatred of the established order 
of society, the Communists vowed that the victors should 
possess only a heap of ashes, and destroyed by fire the 
Tuileries and the Hotel de Ville, and tried to destroy the 
rest of Paris. There followed a period of arrests and ex- The up- 

ecutions, and then France settled down earnestly to the ^""^ing of 

' ^ France, 

work of repairing the fearful ravages of the war. The pres- 
ent flourishing condition of the country is a witness of her 
success, and a testimony to the strength of the Third Re- 
public. 

The rest of the European powers had been no more than The dual 

onlookers during the Franco-German War. The emperor ^'"Pir^ of 
'^ ' Austro- 

of Austria, mindful of 1866, was at first half inclined to Hungary, 
take a hand, but for various reasons was persuaded to desist. 



560 The Modern Period 

Perhaps predominant among them was that his country had 
only just been internally reorganized. The year 1866 had, 
in fact, introduced an era of reform, for his terrible defeat 
at the hands of Prussia had not passed over the Emperor 
Francis Joseph without results. He knew now that he 
must conciliate his various peoples, and establish a popular 
government ; especially he must win back to allegiance the 
Hungarians. He, therefore, divided the Hapsburg domin- 
ions into an Austrian and a Hungarian half, and made 
them independent of each other, except for such matters as 
diplomacy and war. At Vienna, Francis Joseph would be 
emperor of Austria, at Budapest, king of Hungary, and in 
each half of his realm, he was to reign under a separate 
constitution, legislature, and administration. This dual 
empire of Austro-Hungary was created in the year 1867, 
and has proved a greater success than could have been ex- 
pected. A great danger to the dual empire, however, arises 
from the Slavs, who are constantly demanding for them- 
selves the exceptional position already granted to the Hun- 
garians: instead of a dual empire, they want di federal one. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Napoleon's Mexican Scrape. Andrews, Vol. II., p. 173 ff. Lothrop, 

William H. Seward {American Statesmen), pp. 357-62. $1.25. Hough- 
ton. H. H. Bancroft, History 0/ Mexico. 6 vols. History Co., San 
Francisco. See Vol. VI. 

2. Bismarck AS A Statesman, l^owe, Prince BismanA: 2 vols. $3.00. Cassell. 

Busch, Our CAancellor. 2 vols. $3.00. Macmillan. See also Von 
Sybel, Founding of the German Empire. 



Great Britain and Russia $6i 

CHAPTER XXXV 

GREAT BRITAIN AND RUSSIA 

(a) Great Britain in the Nineteenth Century 

LITERATURE.— Seignobos, Chaps. II. -IV. 

McCarthy, History of Our Oiun Times. 3 vols. $4.25. 

Erskine May, The Constitutiotial History 0/ Englattd {lybo-iS'ji'). 3 vols. 

$4.00. Longmans. 
^AMrd^ozh, History of Constitutional Re/or»t. $1.50. Blackie. 

No country had fought the French Revolution more Tory gov- 
bitterly or more persistently than Great Britain. Naturally ^ffi^^'si'; 
therefore when the long war (1793-18 15), which had in- 
spired the subjects of King George III. with a fanatical 
aversion to revolutionary ideas, was once over, England, 
like the Continent, entered upon a period of reaction. The 
Tory party, led by Lord Castlereagh, the duke of Welling- 
ton, and other haters of innovations, took control of the 
British state, and directed it for many years strictly in the 
aristocratic interest. But just as the Continent of Europe The begin- 
bore the reactionary yoke of Metternich and the Holy Alii- "'"^ °^ 
ance unwillingly, and quietly made ready to throw it off, 
so England gradually roused herself from her lethargy, and 
prepared to enter the road of reform. And that there were 
many things imperatively demanding reform, became clear 
as daylight the moment the idea had been once admitted. 

First of all, there was the anomalous religious situation. 
The Toleration Act of 1689 had practically given the Dis- 
senters freedom of worship, but by the Test Act, which Religious 
was still in vogue, they were debarred from holding office. ^ y"\" f 

1 6St Act 

Finally, in 1828, Parliament was persuaded to repeal the repealed 
Test Act, and thereby first made the numerous bodies of ^^°^°^' 
Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists full-fledged English 



562 The Modern Period 

citizens, as eligible to fill a position of public trust as any 
Anglican. 
Relief It still remained to perform a similar act of justice tow- 

Catholics ^^^ ^^^^ Catholics, who were not relieved by the repeal of 
(1829). the Test Act, owing to a special provision compelling 

every office-holder of England to abjure the Pope. Perhaps 
the severely Protestant Parliament would not have taken up 
the matter of the liberation of the Catholics at all, if it had 
not been urged thereto by a dangerous agitation stirred up 
in Ireland by the patriotic orator, Daniel O'Connell, who 
inspired the Catholic Irish to protest against the outrage- 
ous enactments which deprived them, as adherents of the 
ancient faith, of representation at Westminster. Welling- 
ton and his Tory friends were inclined at first to sneer at 
O'Connell's loud words and threats, but when the Iron 
Duke saw that Ireland to a man was backing her leader, and 
resolute in her demands to the point of revolution, he had 
the statesmanlike sagacity to give in. He passed, in 1829, 
a Catholic Relief Bill, by which Catholics were admitted to 
all but the highest offices of the realm. 
The spirit of These two liberating acts of 1828 and 1829 were the 
tor?ous^*fter ^^^^ breaches made in the conservative defences. But 
1830. other assaults were sure to follow, and when, in 1830, a 

Whig or Liberal ministry had displaced the Tories or Con- 
servatives, the Parliament was bold enough to proceed 
straightway to the most necessary of all reforms — to the 
reform of its own membership. 
The Parlia- The seats in Parliament were distributed, in the year 
alMos^'^^ 1830, in accordance with a plan which had suffered no 

material alteration for two hundred years. But the last 
two hundred years had wrought great changes in the society 
of England ; towns which had once flourished had de- 
cayed, mere villages had become prosperous towns. Thus 
it happened that a number of boroughs which were practi- 



Great Britain and Russia 563 

cally extinct, by old custom still sent representatives to 
Parliament. Such boroughs were justly denominated 
" rotten," because the members who sat in Parliament in 
their behalf were the nominees of a mere handful of men, 
nay, frequently of a single person. And as if to crown 
this crying injustice the right to vote was reserved to a few 
thousands of the rich. Thus it w^as clear that the House 
of Commons, as constituted in 1830, had become a mock- 
ery, and that it was a shameful lie to claim that it repre- 
sented the English people. 

The question of Parliamentary reform, brought fonvard 
by the Liberals in 1830, involved them in a severe conflict 
with the Conservatives, but backed by the country, they 
carried their point. The Reform Bill (1832) became a The Pas- 
law ; the "rotten" boroughs were disfranchised, and at g^^^fp^f^^ 
the same time the right to vote was extended to addi- Bill, 1832. 
tional classes of citizens. 

The Reform Bill of 1832 may be said to have trans- The second 
ferred the power in England to the middle class. But it ^"^ third 
did nothing for the industrial and farming classes, and Bills, 
sooner or later, such was the levelling tendency of the age, 
these would have to be admitted to a share in the govern- 
ment. As the practical need arose. Parliament, from time 
to time, extended the franchise ; by two additional reform 
bills — the one of 1867, the other of 1884 — it has rounded 
off the Act of 1832, and given the right to vote to such 
numbers, that England may almost be said to maintain at 
present the system of universal suffrage. 

Hand in hand with these Parliamentary reforms have 
gone a great number of others affecting almost every 
branch of the public service. Perhaps the most impor- 
tant is the repeal of the Corn Laws. The Corn Laws Repeal of 
were intended to protect the land-holding class, who, of ty^ s Ts^e 
course, are the aristocracy, by means of a large duty upon 



564 



The Modern Period 



England 
adopts free 
trade. 



The Irish 
problem. 



The 

Episcopal 
Church 
disestab- 
lished, 1868. 



The two 

present 

grievances. 



grain. ^ Naturally that duty, by raising the price of bread, 
fell heavily upon the English laborer. After a long edu- 
cational campaign, headed by the economist, Richard 
Cobden, the Corn Laws were repealed (1846), and with 
them the whole system of protection was dropped. In lieu 
of it, England adopted the system of free trade, under 
which she has tremendously extended her commercial re- 
lations with the whole world. 

Although the policy of sensible reform has removed most 
of the internal difficulties which have arisen in Great Brit- 
ain during the nineteenth century, one problem remains 
as perplexing and hopeless at the end of the century as 
at the beginning. The name of that problem is Ireland. 
We have seen that the British Parliament had not remained 
blind to all the various forms of Irish misery, and that by 
the Catholic Relief Bill of 1829 the Catholic Irish had at 
length been admitted to office. A benefit along the same 
line was conferred when, in the year 1868, the Protestant 
Episcopal organization, which the Irish had been obliged 
to call their national Church, was deprived of its privi- 
leges. 

But these religious grievances of the Irish, it was com- 
paratively easy for Parliament to settle in an age of in- 
creasing tolerance. For two other grievances, however, 
for more injurious to the welfare of the Irish people, it has 
been impossible to find a remedy. Owing to the confisca- 
tions of the seventeenth century, the Irish soil is, for the 
most part, in the hands of a few hundred English land- 
lords, the Irish themselves being mere tenants and day- 
laborers ; furthermore, Ireland, since the Act of Union of 
1801, is without the benefits of self-government. 

Under these circumstances, the efforts of the Irish party 



' The word " corn," as used in England, embraces all kinds of grain. 
Corn Laws mean Grain Laws. 



Great Britain and Russia 5^5 

in the House of Commons have been directed toward two The efforts 
aims: First, to enable the Irish tenants to acquire from p^rty 
the Enghsh landlords the ownership of the land they till ; backed by 
and secondly, to secure for the Irish an Irish Parliament at Liberal. 
Dublin, with power to manage local affairs very much like 
an American state-legislature. Although the great Lib- 
eral party, inspired by William E. Gladstone, attempted 
to help the Irish achieve the above programme, and al- 
though several Land Acts have been passed for the relief 
of the Irish tenants, and a Home Rule Bill has frequently 
been debated in the House of Commons, the Irish are still 
far from being satisfied, and the thorny Irish problem is as 
far removed as ever from adjustment. 

No sketch of the development of England in the nine- England 

teenth century can afford to leave out of account her mar- ^ world- 
-' empire. 

vellous colonial expansion and some of the attendant bene- 
fits. Above all, the colonies have created that vast trade 
through which has been amassed the fabulous wealth of 
contemporary Britain. But the benefits of expansion are 
not unmitigated. By the creation, all over the world, of 
interests which require to be defended when threatened, 
England has become involved in the nineteenth century in 
numerous wars. Indeed war may be said to have become 
a permanent feature of English politics. If her troops are 
not fighting in South Africa, they are engaged on the Nile, 
and if not on the Nile, then one may be sure that they are 
forcing the passes of the Himalayas. 

But these are conflicts with minor powers. Of great Rivalry of 
powers England has, in the nineteenth century, fought only pn^flnd'at; 
one — Russia, in the Crimean War (1854-56). She en- Constan- 
gaged in this war because she wished to keep Russia out of ^"^^ ^* 
Constantinople, and ever since the rivalry of these two 
powers over Turkey has troubled their relations. And to 
this difficulty another has been added in Asia. The largest 



566 



The Modern Period 



Rivalry of 
Russia and 
England 
in Asia. 



Her " splen- 
did isola- 
tion." 



and richest province of England being India, that territory 
is guarded by England with exceeding jealousy. Now 
Russia has for a hundred years been steadily extending her 
possessions over central and western Asia, until the English 
in India feel that they are no longer safe. Border disputes 
between England and Russia have not been unfrequent of 
late years, and may at some time involve the two countries 
in war. Altogether it may be asserted that the greatest 
danger to the English colonial empire threatens from Rus- 
sia, and chiefly at the two points mentioned — in the eastern 
Mediterranean, where the object of rivalry is Constantino- 
ple, and in India. 

But Russia is not the only power which puts a restraint 
upon Great Britain, for France and Germany, and even the 
United States, have of late years been engaged in frequent 
diplomatic disputes with the great sea-power. And it must 
be granted that the habit of promiscuous land-grabbing, 
which has long distinguished the policy of Great Britain, is 
very j)rovoking to high-spirited nations. Thus by her oc- 
cupation of Egypt, in 1882, she indeed secured for herself 
the control of the Suez Canal and the other waterways to 
India, but at the same time delivered a blow to the influ- 
ence of France in the Mediterranean which will not be 
easily forgotten by that nation. However, up to the pres- 
ent day, this and other disputes have not led to w-ar ; 
Great Britain being a commercial power, is not anxious to 
engage in military enterprises, and the other European 
powers, torn by disputes of their own, have never been able 
to combine against her. 



Great Britain and Russia 5^7 



(/?) Russia in the Nineteenth Century 

LITERATURE.— Seignobos, Fyffe, Muller, and Andrews (as before). 

The study of the foregoing pages must, on more than The rise of 
one occasion, have impressed the reader with the increasing 
importance in the world of Russia. We saw Russia under 
Peter the Great (1689- 1725) establish herself as a Euro- 
pean power; under Catharine the Great (1762-95) we 
observed her accomplish the destruction of Poland ; and 
under Alexander I. (1801-25) we noted her assumption of 
the leadership of the European nations in the overthrow of 
Napoleon. From the death of Alexander I. to the present 
day the principal objects of the policy of the Czars have 
been the overthrow of Turkey and the extension of Rus- 
sian rule in Asia, 

To understand the character of the conflict between The empire 
Russia and Turkey it is necessary to grasp the condition ° ^^ ^^' 
of the Ottoman empire. This state was created chiefly 
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by the military 
triumphs of fanatical Mohammedan hordes, called Turks, 
and embraced at its height the north coast of Africa, Syria, 
Asia Minor, and southeastern Europe. The head of the 
empire of Turkey is its absolute master, and is called Sul- 
tan. Under him as heads of the provincial divisions of the 
empire are the pashas. The Turks have made no effort to 
assimilate the many peoples they have conquered, and have 
never appeared in any other guise than that of a privileged 
class of military despots encamped among conquered nations 
of slaves. 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the des- The revolt 
potic character of the Turkish rule began to excite shame tian oeoDles' 
and horror among the Christian subjects of the Sultan, of the Bal- 
The bulk of these were resident in southeastern Europe, 
and were racially either Greeks or Slavs. The Greeks 



568 



The Modern Period 



The inde- 
pendence ol 
Greece and 
the Turco- 
Russian 
War of 
1828-29. 



The 

Crimean 
War. Tur- 
key helped 
by England 
and France. 



dwelt approximately within the confines of ancient Hellas 
and on the ^gean Islands, while the Slavs, among whom 
we must distinguish the families of the Serbs, the Rouma- 
nians, the Bulgarians, and the Montenegrins, were scat- 
tered, often without any clearly marked geographical boun- 
daries, over the Balkan peninsula. From the beginning of 
this century the Greeks and the Slavs, growing more and 
more restless under the Turkish rule, have risen repeatedly 
to gain their independence. In these risings they have al- 
most invariably enjoyed the sympathy and aid of Russia, for, 
in the first place, the rise of the subject nationalities of the 
Balkans has fallen in with the Russian policy, which aims 
at the abasement of Turkey ; and in the second place, the 
Russian people are linked with the Slav and Greek peoples 
by the common bond of the Greek Church. 

The reader has already been made acquainted with some 
of the movements of the Balkan peninsula and with some 
of the conflicts between Russia and Turkey resulting there- 
from. In the year 182 1 the Greeks rose against their mas- 
ters, and maintained themselves for years against them in 
a struggle as heroic as any in history. The interference of 
the western powers at Navarino (1827), followed by the still 
more emphatic interference of Russia in the war of 1828- 
29, inclined the scales in favor of the Greeks: they be- 
came independent under a constitutional monarchy. In 
the peace signed at Adrianople (1829) the Russians fur- 
ther secured for the principalities of Servia, Moldavia, and 
Wallachia, a fair degree of self-government. 

It was Czar Nicholas I. (1825-55) who had waged the 
war of 1828-29, and during the following years he be- 
came more and more convinced that the Turkish empire 
was falling apart. He invented the famous phrase by 
which he designated the Sultan as "the sick man," and, 
in 1853, occupied the sick man's territories. The result 



Great Britain and Russia 569 

was the Crimean War, in which Turkey was allied with 
France and England, and in which, because of this alliance, 
she came out victorious. But in spite of the Russian de- 
feat the Christians of the peninsula suffered no loss, and 
the Turks gained no advantage. The leading Danubian 
principalities, Servia, Wallachia,^ and Moldavia, were con- 
firmed in the rights (self-government under the suzerainty 
of the Sultan) which had been granted them in the Peace 
of Adrianople. 

The situation in the Balkan peninsula did not enter The revolt 

another crisis till 187 ■;, when a revolt broke out in of Bosnia, 

1875. 
Bosnia owing to the insufferable oppression of the Turkish 

tax-collectors. The brave Bosnian insurgents main- 
tained themselves with success in their mountains, and 
for a time the situation of the Turks was critical. While 
fighting the Bosnians in front of them, they had to reckon 
with the possibility of a rising among the Bosnian sympa- 
thizers in their rear, for the consequence of the Bosnian 
struggle was a tremendous ferment among all the Christian 
races under Turkish rule, accompanied by the desire to 
effect a common rising against the Mohammedan master. 
Fearfiil of this movement the Turks resolved to forestall it 
by a characteristic method. They sent irregular troops 
among the Bulgarians, with orders to kill whonisoever they 
encountered, and these troops throwing themselves upon 
the defenceless Bulgarian villages, massacred in cold blood 
thousands and thousands of men, women, and children. 

The Bulgarian atrocities filled Europe with horror. The The 
Sultan made glib excuses, and the diplomats arranged all ^^*"^" 
kinds of compromises, but the difficulties between Europe 1876. 
and Turkey had already got beyond adjustment by paper 
conclusions. In Russia, where the people were related to 



' Wallachia and Moldavia were in 1861 united under the name o( 
Roumania 



570 



The Modern Period 



Russia de- 
clares war, 
1877. 



The 
Russian 
invasion. 
Plevna. 



The Peace 
of San 
Stefano. 
England 
protests. 



The Con- 
gress of 
Berlin, 1878. 



tlie Bulgarians by ties of race and religion, the popular 
sentiment was soon excited beyond control, and in April, 
1877, Czar Alexander II. (1855-81), unable and unwill- 
ing to resist longer the public pressure, declared war. 

In June the Russians crossed the Danube, and a month 
later occupied the principal passes of the Balkan Mountains. 
But at this juncture they met with their only serious check. 
In the rapid overthrow of the Turkish empire one man ap- 
peared, resolved to save at least the military honor of the 
nation. This was Osman Pasha. He gathered such forces 
as were available, fortified himself at Plevna, and for five 
months directed a defence against the Russians which 
stopped completely the forward movement upon Constan- 
tinople, and invited the admiration of the world. But in 
December, 1877, Plevna was taken, and Osman, " the lion 
of Plevna," with the worn-out remnant of his troops, had 
to surrender. 

Immediately on the surrender of Plevna the Russians 
took up again their march to Constantinople. Turkey 
offered no further resistance, and in sight of the minarets 
of the Turkish capital, the Russians forced from the Turks 
the Peace of San Stefano (March, 1878). The Peace of 
San Stefano practically decreed the dissolution of the Turk- 
ish empire, but it was no sooner signed than England made 
the demand that it be submitted to the European powers 
for revision. Russia at first protested, but as England, 
then governed by Lord Beaconsfield (Disraeli), threatened 
to go to war in order to get satisfaction, the Czar gave way. 
In consequence there assembled for the revision of the Peace 
of San Stefano the Congress of Berlin (June, 1878). 

The Congress of Berlin was largely dominated by sus- 
picion of Russia, and adopted in consequence the policy of 
strengthening the small states of the Balkan peninsula, in 
the hope that they might prove an effective barrier, in the 



Great Britain and Russia 57 1 

future, between Russia and her prey on the Bosporus. It 
ratified the following measures: i. Montenegro, Servia, 
and Roumania were declared independent. 2. Bulgaria 
was constituted a self-governing principality, subject mere- 
ly to the payment of an annual tribute to the Sultan. Its 
boundaries were drawn on the north by the Danube, and 
on the south by the Balkan Mountains. 3. The southern 
part of ancient Bulgaria — the part south of the Balkans — 
was constituted as the province of East Roumelia, and 
though given an independent civil administration, was left 
under the military authority of the Turks. 4. Austria was 
commissioned to occupy and administer Bosnia and Herze- 
govina. 5. Russia received Bessarabia and a number of 
territories in Asia Minor. As the reader will observe, Russia 
came out of the Congress of Berlin damaged in prestige and 
shorn of her triumphs, and has ever since looked upon the 
Berlin settlement with wrath and indignation. 

Since the Congress of Berlin a number of changes have Roumania, 
occurred, most of which point to the increasing vigor of the g ^"ar'a" 
Balkan "buffer" states and to the success of the Berlin since the 
policy. In 1881 Roumania declared herself a kingdom 
under King Charles I. of the German House of Hohen- 
zollern-Sigmaringen. Servia followed suit in 1882, her 
first king being Milan I. of the native Servian family of 
Obrenovitch. Bulgaria, however, has seen even greater 
changes. In 1885 East Roumelia, which had by the Con- 
gress of Berlin been separated from Bulgaria against its will, 
revolted against Turkish rule, and united itself with its 
sister state. Soon after this event Alexander of Batten berg, 
who had been elected prince of Bulgaria in 1879, ^^^ ^^' 
posed by a Russian conspiracy, but the affairs of the coun- 
try were not greatly disturbed by this mischance, for Fer- 
dinand of Coburg was elected prince in Alexander's stead, 
and the country has since enjoyed comparative quiet. 



war. 



572 The Modern Period 

Russia in If by means of the three wars which Russia has waged 

^*^* against Turkey since the Congress of Vienna, she has 

made considerable acquisitions from that country, she has 
fared still better in another quarter. In central and eastern 
Asia, she has had no very important foe to face, and has 
in consequence, by a system of gradual encroachments, 
added to Siberia, which she already held, a great number 
of border provinces. 

The eman- Before we close the chapter on Russia, a number of inter- 

the%er"s ""^^ matters deserve a passing mention. Czar Alexander II. 

1861. (1855-81) was rather more humane than his predecessor, 

and introduced at least one praiseworthy reform. In 185S 
he granted freedom to the 20,000,000 serfs on the crown 
domains, and in 1861 he ordered also the liberation of the 
20,000,000 serfs resident upon the lands of the nobles, 
making the peasants by these decrees free proprietors. This 
high-minded measure raised great expectations among the 
educated classes, who fancied that the Russian millennium 
was at hand, and demanded a constitutional government. 
When the Czar turned a deaf ear to their request, the more 
radical elements plotted secretly against the government, 

Nihilism. and drifted gradually into nihilism. The nihilists have 
kept up an active propaganda for many decades, and have 
done many deeds of horror, even assassinating, in 1881, 
the Czar. These excesses the government has met by 
wholesale execution and exile to Siberia, but thus far with- 
out crushing the nihilist agitation. 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

I. The Irish Land Qi'estion. 

Seignobos, Chaps. II. -IV. (passim). 

McCarthy, Ireland Since the Union. $1.50. Chatto & Windus. Es- 
pecially Chap. XVI. 
3. The Congress of Berlin. 

Andrews, Chap. VIII., p. 321 ff. Fyffe, p. 1045 flf. 

Holland, J'he Etiropean Concert in the Eastern Question. $3.75. Clar- 
endon. (Contains treaties of San Stefano, Berlin, etc.) 



Situation at Close of Nineteenth Century 573 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

THE GENERAL SITUATION AT THE CLOSE OF THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY 

LilTERATURE.— CuTzon, Proi/ems q/t/te Fnr East $2.00. Longmans. 
Milner, Etiglandin Egypt. $1.50. Arnold. 

Landell, Russian Central Asia. 2 vols. $6.00. Sampson Low. 
AVorcester, TAe Philippitu Islands. $3.00. Macmillan. 

In the last few decades of the nineteenth century it has 
become apparent to every observer that the efforts of 
European cabinets are no longer confined to the Continent 
of Europe, but are largely devoted to problems lying out- 
side of Europe, beyond the seas : the policy of the powers 
of Europe has become a world-policy. 

This important change is not so sudden as it looks, in The expan- 
fact, its origin may be traced back to the momentous voy- 
ages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama at the end of the 
fifteenth century. Through these and through others which 
followed in the wake of these, the leading European powers 
established commercial interests at various points of the 
globe, and many of them even planted seedlings of the old 
stock in the new lands. The result has been that Europe 
has become in a real way interlaced and identified with 
Asia, Africa, Australia, and America, and the connection, 
slight and faint at first, has gradually acquired such huge 
proportions and such immense vigor that its severance 
would appear to mean for the home country nothing less 
than the annihilation of the authority which that country 
enjoys in the council of the nations. 

If all the European powers are involved in these world 
interests, they are not all involved in the same degree. 
Some entered earlier and some later upon this development, 
and since it requires time for commerce to grow and col- 



sion of Eu- 
rope. 



574 T^hc Modern Period 

onies to spread, the nations that early gave their attention 
to the problem of trans-oceanic expansion have acquired a 
lead, which the younger rivals have overcome either with 
difficulty or not at all. 

Now the order in which the European nations took up a 
world-policy seems to have been largely determined by the 
following political law : they took to the sea approximately 
in the order in which they arrived at their national consoli- 
dation ; that is to say, in the order in which their govern- 
ments became strong enough to claim new territory and to 
hold it against all comers. 
Portugal We have seen in an earlier chapter that Portugal and 

and Spain. gpaj^ were the first to direct their attention from Europe 
to the outer world. They acquired and settled a good 
deal of territory east and west. But, victims soon of grave 
internal disorder, they found themselves lacking in the 
requisite strength and health to persist in their forward 
movement. The nations which in the seventeenth century 
Holland, supplanted them were Holland, England, and France. 

England, p j. ^j colonial vitality of Holland hardly extended 
and France. ^ -' 

over more than one astonishing century, and was largely 

due to the exaltation of the struggle with Spain, and to 
the temporary eclipse of England and France under the 
burden of their civil wars. When in the second half of 
the seventeenth century England and France, command- 
ing resources that little Holland could not match, entered 
the field of competition, the Dutch had, in their turn, to 
desist from further gains and be satisfied with what they 
already possessed. That left only England and France 
in the colonial race, and in the course of the eighteenth 
century these two powers met in a memorable contest, 
winning in which England reduced France to a few trivial 
holdings, mere points of support for her merchant marine 
in various parts of the earth. 



Situation at Close of Nineteenth Century 575 

Thus the nineteenth century opened with England enor- Leading co- 
mously in the lead as a world-power. But of course it was e°s'of to'-^' 
impossible to bar the other European nations from farther day: Eng- 
attempts at world-empire, and consequently they have prance ' 
made, in the order in which their internal consolidation 
permitted, new efforts to establish themselves along the 
great lines of travel. Russia, above all, and France, in 
measure as she recovered her national vitality, have at- 
tempted to raise their flags over unclaimed territory, and 
latterly Germany and Italy, having at length achieved their 
long-desired unity, have bestirred themselves to make up 
for their long impotence. But of course the lead gained 
by England has not been and could not be overtaken, and 
therefore in the enumeration of colonial interests and pos- 
sessions the great island-kingdom deserves easily the first 
place. 

By virtue of her success in the Seven Years' War (1756- The colonial 
6;^^ England became undisputed mistress of North America g^Jand ° 
and India. The successful revolt of the Atlantic colonists, 
who formed the government of the United States of Amer- 
ica, deprived her soon after of the better part of her Amer- 
ican holdings, but the peace of 1783 which acknowledged 
the new nation did not disturb the English possession of 
Canada, and Canada remains to this day the most impor- 
tant English possession in the west. In India, the author- 
ity of England, uninterrupted since 1763, has become 
constantly more consolidated, and her material interests, 
carefully nursed, have swelled to gigantic proportions. 
During the Napoleonic Wars England acquired from the 
Dutch, who had been obliged to side with the French em- 
peror, the territory in South Africa known as the Cape, and 
in the first half of the nineteenth century she acquired by 
settlement the vast continent of Australia. Her latest large 
acquisition is Egypt, which the government in 1882 took 



576 



The Modern Period 



The 

holdings of 
Russia. 



The 

holdings of 
France. 



in an occupation announced at the time to be temporary, 
but apparently intended since to be permanent. In addi- 
tion to these substantial provinces on the great continents 
of America, Asia, Africa, and Australia, England holds 
an almost incalculable number of islands, scattered over all 
the seas, by which her continental possessions are conven- 
iently bound together. 

The greatest rival of England for world-empire is Russia. 
As early as the seventeenth century this power had begun to 
expand over the north of Asia, and all through the eigh- 
teenth and nineteenth centuries the absorption by Russia 
of eastern and central Asia has continued, until her en- 
croachments eastward have reached the Chinese Wall, and 
her progress southward has brought her to the Himalayas, 
the northern boundary of British India. Certain small 
central Asiatic states like Afghanistan and Persia still pre- 
serve their independence; but they are exposed to the 
danger of almost hourly extinction in the great conflict 
waged between English and Russian diplomacy for the con- 
trol of their governments. In addition Russia has steadily 
reached out in the direction of the Black Sea, and in her 
progress has gathered up province after province which 
the moribund Sultan has been obliged to release from his 
grasp. 

France, which suffered such a grievous colonial setback 
in the eighteenth century, has in the nineteenth century 
once more bravely attempted to retrieve her losses. In the 
year 1830 she seized a favorable opportunity to conquer 
Algiers, and she has since extended her power over Tunis 
and the whole Sahara region. Besides this African terri- 
tory she enjoys a considerable position in Asia by virtue of 
her occupation of southern China (Tonquin) and the eastern 
half of Farther India. 

Germany and Italy were of course in no position to en- 



Situation at Close of Nineteenth Century 577 

gage in colonial enterprises till within a very few years, The 
when all the best parts of the earth were already spoken q° j-j^anv^ 
for. Still the national pride urged them to fly their flag and Italy. 
some\.'here and over something, and so when in the eigh- 
ties the general scramble of the European powers for the 
last and most worthless continent, the scramble for Africa 
began, these two nations took a hand in the game with 
England and France, and acquired considerable terri- 
tory, Germany on the west and east coast (Kameroons, 
German Southwest Africa, German East Africa), and Italy 
in the neighborhood of Abyssinia. 

A close study of these vantage-points held by the Euro- The _ 
pean powers will greatly help in the understanding of their affinities of 
relations toward each other since 1870. But these rela- the Europe 
tions will not be wholly understood thereby, for they have expressed 

also been determined by the clash and adjustment of in- by the 

, , , ... , , , . .1 Triple and 

terests more nearly at home, that is, m the old historical Dual Al- 

field of Europe itself. And especially does this hold of the liances. 

now famous grouping of the powers under a Triple and 

Dual Alliance. In fact, however much the maintenance 

of these alliances may be due to the protection which they 

extend to the colonial pretensions of their members, they 

owe their inception to circumstances strictly and narrowly 

European in their bearing. Let us follow this argument 

briefly. 

The leading idea of Bismarck's policy after the creation The origin 

of the German Empire in 1871 was to keep Germany suf- ^J."^ Triple 

ficiently strong and France sufficiently isolated for the 

latter power to feel disinclined to risk a war of revenge for 

the purpose of wiping out the memory of her great deleat, 

and of reconquering the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. 

Accordingly, Bismarck fostered the friendship of Germany 

with Austria and Russia, and established the alliance which 

became popularly known as the League of the Three Em- 



5/8 The Modern Period 

perors. The good understanding of Austria and Russia, 
however, was badly impaired by the jealousy aroused in 
Austria by the Russian successes in the Turkish war of 
1877, and when, at the Congress of Berlin (1878), Rus- 
sian diplomacy became convinced that Germany was not 
supporting Russia with sufficient heartiness, the League of 
the Three flmperors received its death-blow. Bismarck 
now felt obliged to protect German interests by some other 
arrangement, and in the year 1879 he signed a close de- 
fensive alliance with Austria. This Dual Alliance was in 
the year 1882 converted into a Triple Alliance by the ad- 
dition of Italy, which power was impelled to this step by 
the fear of French aggression in the Mediterranean, aroused 
on the occasion of the French occupation of Tunis (1881). 
The Triple Alliance is at the close of the century still in- 
tact, and seems to have fulfilled honestly its purpose, an- 
nounced on a hundred different occasions, of maintaining 
the peace of Europe. 
The origin The isolation which marked the position of France after 

Alliance"^ 1870 was due to two causes. First, there was Bismarck's 
diplomatic success in drawing most of the European pow- 
ers around himself in a league of peace, and secondly, there 
was the natural aversion felt by monarchical governments 
to a close union with a republic, presumably revolution- 
ary in its tendencies. But the coolness arising between 
Russia and Germany at the Congress of Berlin inevitably 
played into the hands of France. She sought the friend- 
ship of Czar Alexander III., and although the monarchical 
prejudices of this sovereign caused him to proceed very 
cautiously, she finally succeeded (1891) in establishing 
amicable relations, which under Czar Nicolas II. (1894) 
seem to have assumed the character of a formal alliance. 
This Dual Alliance, like the Triple Alliance, claims to be 
pursuing only peaceful purposes, and has not yet given oc- 



Situation at Close of Nineteenth Century 579 

casion to doubt its word. These two great European de- 
fensive alliances have been formed with feference to antag- 
onisms in Europe, and are pledged, as far as is known, 
solely to the maintenance of the status quo on the Con- 
tinent. They do not seem to concern themselves with 
the extra-European ambitions of the powers, but have nev- 
ertheless had some influence in the solution of the various 
rivalries and conflicts of the last twenty-five years. 

Now these European rivalries and conflicts have gathered The present 
around the following leading storm-centres : Africa, Tur- tres'^Afrka 
key, and China. None of these territories is able to offer Turkey, 
much resistance to attack, and hence their exposure to the 
aggression of the strong. 

First, as to the African difficulties. These are now luck- The African 
ily approaching a solution, since the conflicting claims, P''°°^^"^- 
inaugurated by the general scramble of the eighties, have 
been adjudicated by the adoption of the sensible policy of 
mutual concessions. There were, however, many black 
moments in the history of the African negotiations, for in- 
stance, the conflict between England and France in 1898 
for the possession of the Niger and the Upper Nile, which 
was, after dangerous haggling, settled by the withdrawal on 
the part of France of her pretensions. Peril still threatens Egypt and 
chiefly at two points : first, in Egypt, where France watches ^^^^j rans- 
with undisguised aversion the English occupation ; and sec- 
ond, in the Transvaal (South African Republic), where 
England's attempt to get citizen-rights for her emigrants 
called outlanders, and President Kruger's counter-propo- 
sition for complete and unlimited sovereignty, involved 
the two countries in long negotiations, and led, in Octo- 
ber 1899, to war. 

The Turkish muddle is older than the African one, and The Turk- 
offers much tougher resistance to the solvents that have problem, 
been applied to it. Turkey, or the Ottoman Empire, has 



58o The Modern Period 

long been in dissolution, and would have vanished, at least 
off the face of Europe, decades ago, if the European powers 
could only have agreed as to who should inherit from the 
Sultan. At the important Congress of Berlin (1878) they 
agreed to the principle of fostering the Christian national- 
ities of the Balkan Peninsula, and although this principle 
can hardly be expected to meet with the hearty api)roval 
of Russia, it has been maintained ever since, with the re- 
sult that Greece, Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, and Bul- 
garia have acquired a constantly increasing vigor. In fact, 
the fierce rivalries of these small states have become as 
great a threat to the European peace as the progressive 
decay of Turkey. Thus when in 1885 East Roumelia 
revolted from Turkey and begged to be incorporated with 
Bulgaria, Servia, jealous of this increase of her neighbor, 
engaged in a war in which she was defeated. The con- 
flagration was only kept from spreading over the whole 
Peninsula by the interference of the powers. 

Meanwhile the .decay of Turkey has continued, and at 
two points in particular has led to the old game of revolt 
by the subjects, answered by massacres on the part of the 
Turks. These two points are Armenia and Crete or 
Candia. 
Armenia. The territory of Armenia in eastern Asia Minor is partly 

Russian and partly Turkish. The Armenians are of Semitic 
stock, but have long been converted to Christianity. Be- 
ginning with 1890, the Armenians resident on Turkish .soil 
began organizing a revolt for the purpose of acquiring their 
independence after the manner of the Balkan nationalities. 
In 1894, 1895, and 1896, grave outrages were committed 
by the Turks as an answer to the revolutionary propaganda, 
and although the powers in response to the clamorous senti- 
ment of Europe interfered and put an end to the disturb- 
ances, they did not succeed, owing to the opposition of 



Situation at Close of Nineteenth Century 581 

Russia, in carrying out the only permanent measure of re- 
form — the separation of Armenia from Turkey. 

In Crete there arose even greater difficulties, but they Crete, 
were luckily brought in the end to a more satisfactory con- 
clusion. The Island of Crete is inhabited by Christians 
and Mussulmans, the Christians being of Hellenic race. 
As far back as 1868 the Sultan had been obliged by the 
powers to promise reforms in Crete, but these were carried 
out with so much delay and equivocation that the island 
never obtained any real peace, and was perpetually disturbed 
by outbreaks between the Christians and Mussulmans. In 
1894 the Christians, secretly aided by their brethren in the 
kingdom of Greece, began a systematic revolt which the 
Sultan was not able to suppress. In 1896 the Sultan, under 
pressure from the powers, again promised reforms and a 
Christian governor, but the distrust of him was by this 
time firmly rooted, and neither the Cretans nor the Greeks 
were appeased. Finally, in February, 1897, the Greeks, The Turco- 
carried away by the pan-Hellenistic passion, sent a flotilla Greek War 
of torpedo-boats to aid the Cretans, and thereby practically ^' ' 

declared war against Turkey. During the next weeks there 
were feverish preparations on both sides, and in April 
Turkey actively took the field. In a short campaign she 
completely overwhelmed the Greeks, but was hindered by 
the interference of the powers from getting any great ad- 
vantage from her victory. One important result of the 
war, however, was that Greece and Turkey alike agreed to 
the principle of autonomy for Crete, and promised to ac- 
cept the Christian governor, who was to be named by the 
powers. After wearisome negotiations. Prince George of 
Greece was at last (1898) appointed to this office. Crete 
is therefore at present only nominally under Turkey, and 
her self-government under a Greek prince would seem to 
indicate that the future will bring her into the fold of the 
Christian kingdom. 



582 



The Modern Period 



The 

Chinese 

Problem. 



The war 
with Japan, 
1895. 



The ques- 
tion of the 
dismember- 
ment of 
China. 



The weakness of Cliina is an old story. On several oc- 
casions (1842, i860, 1868) she has been compelled by 
England or France or Russia to make commercial and even 
territorial concessions. But it was not till her war with 
]apan in 1895 that her whole weakness was revealed. In 
this war, Japan, commanding an army and a navy organ- 
ized on modern principles, won an easy victory, and would 
have acquired a substantial piece of Chinese territory, if 
Russia, France, and Germany had not interfered and 
obliged her (Treaty of Shimonoseki) to be satisfied with 
the island of Formosa and a money indemnity. But besides 
the weakness of China, there were also brought to the at- 
tention of Europe on this occasion her immense undeveloped 
resources, which soon aroused the avidity of the jjowers to 
striking pitch. In 1897 Em^^eror William II. of Germany 
seized the port of Kiao-Chow, and immediately after Rus- 
sia got possession of Port Arthur, and England of Wei-hai- 
wei. Thus the scramble for China has begun. France 
and Italy have not failed to demand special privileges for 
themselves, and in 1898 the problem became still further 
complicated by the advent in the Orient of a new power, 
the United States, through the acquisition from Spain, in 
a successful war, of the Philippine Islands. At present the 
powers seem all to be inclined toward a liberal commercial 
policy, are alike profuse with protestations of good inten- 
tions toward China and toward each other, but nevertheless 
are watching every new move with suspicion. The inter- 
esting question for every student of contemporary politics 
is whether China will maintain herself or will be partitioned 
among the powers, 

SPECIAL TOPICS 

1. Bismarck AND THE Triple Alliance. Seignobos, Chaps. XXVIII. An- 

drews, Vol. II., p. 323 ff. Lowe, Prince Bismarck. Vol. II. 

2. The Transvaal Disruxi;. Hillegas, Ooin Paul's People. $1.25. Ap- 

pleton. Bryce, Impressions in South Africa. $2.50. Century Co. 
North American Rcvieiv, November, i8gg March, 1900 (especially 
article by Bryce). Also Nineteenth Century, Fortnightly, etc., of 
same period. 



CHRONOLOGICAL AND GENEALOGICAL 

TABLES 

I.— EMPERORS AND POPES 



Note i.— The table of Emperors is complete from Karl the Great on; the table of 
Popes contains only the more important names. 

Note 2. — The names in italics are those of German kings who never made any claim 
to the imperial title. Those marked with an * were never actually crowned at Rome. 
Charles V. was crowned by the Pope, but at Bologna, not at Rome. 



Year of 
Accession. 


Popes. 


Emperors. 


Year of 
Accession. 


A.D. 






A.D. 


314 


Sylvester I. (d. 336). 


Constantine (the Great), 








alone. 


323 






Julian the Apostate. 


361 






Theodosius I. 


379 






Arcadius (in the East), 








Honorius (in the West). 


395 






Theodosius II. (E.). 


408 






Valentinian III. (W.). 


424 


440 


Leo I. (the Great), 








(d. 461). 


Romulus Augustulus 








(W.). 


475 






(Western line ends with 








Romulus Augustulus, 








476) 








[Till 800 there are Em- 








perors only at Constan- 








ti?iople.'\ 








Anastasius I. 


491 






Justin I. 


518 






Justinian. 


527 






Justin II. 


565 


590 


Gregory I. (the Great), 
(d. 604). 






7IS 


Gregory II. 







583 



584 



Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



Year of 
Accession. 


Popes. 


Emperors. 


Year of 
Accession. 


A.D. 






A.D. 






Leo III. (the Isaurian). 


718 


731 


Gregory III. 






741 


Zacharias. 






752 


Stephen II. 






752 


Stephen III, 






772 


Hadrian 1. 










Constantine VI. 


780 






(Deposition of Constan- 








tine VI. by Irene, 797.) 








[The table gives hence- 








forth only the Empe- 








rors of the new West- 








ern line.] 




795 


Leo III. 










Karl the Great. 


800 






Liidwig I. 


814 


816 


Stephen IV. (d. 817). 










Lothar I. 


840 






Ludwig II, (in Italy). 


855 


872 


John VIII. (d. 882). 










Charles II. (the Bald). 


875 






Charles III. (the Fat). 


881 


88s 


Stephen V. 






891 


Formosus. 


Guido (in Italy). 


891 






Lambert (in Italy). 


894 


896 


Boniface VI. 






896 


Stephen VI. (d. 897). 


Arniilf. 


896 






Ludwig the Child. 


899 






Louis III. of Provence 








(in Italy). 


901 






Courad I. 


911 






Berengar (in Italy). 


915 






Henry I. {the Fowler). 


918 


955 


John XII. 


Otto /., Kitiff., 936; Em- 








peror, 962. 


962 


963 


Leo VIII. (d. 965). 










Otto II. 


973 






Otto III. 


983 






Henry II. (the Holy) 


1002 






Conrad II. (the Salic). 


1024 






Henry III. (the Black). 


1039 






Henry IV. 


1056 


1057 


Stephen IX. 






1058 


Benedict X. 






1059 


Nicholas II. 






1061 


Alexander II. 






1073 


Gregory VII. (Hilde- 
brand). 


(Rudolph of Suabia, ri- 








val.) 


1077 


loSo 


(Clement, Anti-pope.) 


(Hermann of Luxem- 








burg, rival.) 


1081 



I 



Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



585 



Year of 

Accession. 


Popes. 


Emperors. 


Year of 
Accession. 


A.D. 






A.D. 


1086 


Victor III. 






1087 


Urban II. 


(Conrad of Franconia, ri- 








val.) 


1093 


1099 


Paschal II. 










Henry V. 


1106 


II18 


Gelasius II. 






III9 


Calixtus II. (d. 1124). 










Lothar II. 


II2S 






*Conrad III. 


1 138 






Frederick I. (Barbaros- 








sa). 


1152 


"54 


Hadrian IV. 






1 159 


Alexander III. (d. 1181). 






"59 


(Victor, Anti-pope.) 










Henry VI. 


1 190 






"Philip of Suabia, Otto 








IV. (rivals). 


1 197 


1198 


Innocent III. 










Otto IV., alone. 


1208 






Frederick II. 


I2I2 


1216 


Honorius III. 






1227 


Gregory IX. 






1241 


Celestine IV. 






1243 


Innocent IV. (d. 1254). 










(Henry Raspe, rival.) 


1246 






(William of Holland, ri- 








val.) 


1246 






*Conrad IV. 


1250 






Interregtium. 


1254 






*Richard of Cornwall and 








"Alfonso of Castile, ri- 








vals. 


1257 


1271 


Gregory X. (d. 1276). 










"Rudolf I. of Hapsburg. 


1273 


1277 


Nicholas III. (d. 1281). 










*Adolph of Nassau. 


1292 


1294 


Boniface VIII. 










*Albrecht I. of Hapsburg. 


1298 


1303 


Benedict XI. 






1305 


Clement V. (who re- 
moves Papacy to 
Avignon). 


Henry VII. of Luxem- 








burg. 


1308 






Louis IV. of Bavaria, 


I3I4 






(Frederick of Austria, ri- 








val.) 




1316 


John XXII. (d. 1334). 


Charles IV. of Luxem- 








burg. 


1347 






(Gunther of Schwarz- 








burg, rival.) 




1352 


Innocent VI. 







586 Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



Year of 
Accession. 


Popes. 


Emperors. 


Year of 
Accession. 


A.D. 






A.D. 


1362 


Urban V. 






1370 


Gregory XI. (who 
brings Papacy back 
to Rome). 






1378 


Urban VI. 

(Clement VI. Anti- 
pope. ) [Htre begins 
the Great Schism.] 


*Wenzel of Luxemburg. 
*Rupert of the Palati- 


1378 






nate. 


1400 






Sigismund of Lu.xem- 








burg. 


1410 


I417 


Martin V. [Great 
Schism healed.] 






143 1 


Eugene IV. 


*Albrecht II. of Haps- 








burg. 


1438 






Frederick III. of Haps- 








burg. 


1440 


1447 


Nicholas V. 






1455 


Cali.xtus IV. 






I45« 


Pius II. (.-Eneas Picco- 
loniini). 






1464 


Paul 11. 






1471 


Si.xtus IV. 






1484 


Innocent VIII. 






1492 


Alexander VI. (Bor- 
gia), d. 1503. 


*Ma.ximil;an I. of Haps- 








burg. 


1493 






Charles V. of Hapsburg. 


1519 



This table has been compiled from Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, with 
the kind permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company. 



J 



Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



587 



< 

Pi 

W 



H 
(^ 

n 

o 
o 

< 

o 

o 

H 

o 

< 
O 

> 

o 



u 



<?°? 



iri 



lO 



bfl 



i ^ 



T >" 

M r- 
t-t tA 

r - c 

o<- ° 

O b( 

b/;S 

■3 



2a* 



bfl 

c 



-g 

U c 



u t/i nj 
O O " 



^'3 



1) 



uw!5 



be bt 
c c 

u:2 



bflO -o 



c 

3 
60 



CO 

- lA c 
^ - rt 

_|s«_ 

•£.£■3 
o o,_ 

:b'^ o 

U'^ bo 
o c 
bfl;-; 

o 



vQ^o 






bO 

Q 



1- 'x 



^§ 



bo 



-J3 - 



3 

i c * 

: « 1!. 



o 
b« 

c 



3 -o 

. b« , 

-fe°2 
•OT3 2 
3 C< 

<u rt V- 



bo 2 

c c 

c 

15 



A 



k£^ 






u c 


K S 


a c 


3 


u:: 






r o^ 


.s 


1— > m 
t— 1 


fc4 


*-• rt 


hn 




c 


« to 


X: ri 


c 


-^ ^ 





3 3 




1< 


Q 



H'^ 



a 


tq 


rT 


ri3 


-yi 


-'(A 


eric 1 

(Aus 
•34- 


U rt 


•a « 


eber 
ustr 
-48. 


ebal 
ustr 
-55- 


■aa i- 


-■v< ;,- 


"•0<OT 


3 U H 


3v„ ri 


3v. ■«• 


U-3 10 


U "^ 




-C . 


H- 


H-S 


H ^ 


bs 

c 


^ 


Uj 



J3 
O 

bo 
a 



< 
I. 

H 
H 
o 

z 



< 
a 

O 

HI 

I 
H 

iJ 
OS 

■< 

b. 

O 



o 
t> 

in 
u 
u 
z 



<: 
a 

H 
O 

CO 

US 

Q 
M 






o 



.0 
9 



rt 

a 

< 
II- 



^ bi 
W.5 






o 



Ui 



B . 

4)-— N 

o rn 

C I 

'5. „ 



c ■ 



_b« 
bs 

V 



M 1^ 

. I 

Ooo 

5. 
a 

II 

•d 



O 



o 

J3 






3 ** 

-ll 

1 3 



c + 



2 

o »o 



V O 



588 



Chronological and 



Genealogical 



Tables 



o ^ 






W 



O 

13 



H 

u 
o 

X 

o 

►J 
O 

< 
o 

K 
H ^' 

I <: 



^4 00 



a 









^ 

S 






o 

3 
O 



3 
•— > 

II _ 

« 



•*; o 
, I 

I 
s 

II — 



-^ I :? - 

■s^ 00 

2 



u; 



c 



;ot 



hi 









a 

e 

u 

u 

o • 

.Sfoo 
•a 

3 






.Soo J< 



3 



^3? t- 



■J; to "»■ 



u 

c 

o 



UJc 






.2i. 

— 3 >> 



O 



.^'s:^ 



c c 
3 rt 
o> 

■— (*« 

# o 

3 c 

»^ Ch 

o> 

I 

log 
Poo 

^00-v- 

UK/ ^ 



if 



k-^ 






V 






■u 



3 



00 v 

•S-d 

~ 3 
rt "I 
jC 
U 



5 



.8 



^■^ 



£» > 2 



u 

u 
a 

a 

V 






o 

"5 ^3 
<1« 



3 i-i 

2*00 c 



c - 

'5. 
o. 

'A 



'a. 



'Ei 



.^ n . 
>- ojg 

■s:_ + 

O o 
1-1 M 

e 



4> 
P. 

E 



u 



H 
O 



Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



589 



w 

H 

M 
W3 
ID 

o 

',5 

M 
b 

'A 

W 

O 

« 
< 

z; 

o 
u 
iz; 



•A 

o 



H 
I 









li o 



u-c: 

go 









■♦"3 
f Si 

Ig.i 

^ u c 
— ^-t: cj 






V 

Q 



a 



3+ § 

= J? 

. <?>^-^ 

q M rt 
O "J= 

« + O 

■2c2 J 
5 ^ . ^ 

Ci^co o 

"-« EM 

o _^ ^ 
o u 
■^> oT 
— *- "O 
O f^3 



•a 

c 






o> 



oj rt u 

J: rt = 

1-^ o -u 

-^^ 



OS 

u 

h 

a 

t = 
— ' 3 

^ ^S> 

•? 3 

"- >„ o 6 

Z lU 

o .i- 



T3 

3 



•ot: 

O 



c 



.£3 + 

O " 

:a.s 

*. ._ 3 



I .s 






o 3 






.0, 

I V 






-So- 



^ O 
J. CS 

o 

0) 

H 



51. 



' 0\ 



2^1 



1> 



I 






II- 

c 



51 



f 






>-. M U 



33 



^ 



c 
_« 

c 



rK 



1. 3 



2 



>3 



— o " 
b 



x: 



c 

E 
r o 

^ '^ ai 

3; u 



^ 

^ 



^ o 

-_^ \r\— 



^ 



•« 
^ 

^ 



0. 




a 




^; 








rt 




-n 




u 




-c 


'O 


K 


CJ 



t; + 



■a 
n 

u 

C 

o 
U 






— c 






Q 

2 



590 



Chronological and Genealogical Tables 

















*— V qj 




, 




E 




















m I- 




C -A 






















-—^ i» 




in 




(4 










+ 


B 










c 


1 




s 

(A 

< 




oo 

00 
V 




-V 


J) 








1^ 




S a. 




o 

00 




a 
u 
m 
o 

"^ 

-1(1 

u 




o. 

> 
o 


C3 

u 

o 
c 

V 

V 

3 


> 

c 




-"o — 

(A 

Ji 

n 


•a 

B 

— CJ 

B 

•5 

u 

u 


2 o — 

C u 

U 




1 


O CJ 

(/I £ 




p 00 


o 

<J 

(/] 

— 'o- 

E 
« 




c 


o- 


K 




U 


b 


U* 




- 9 




to' 
o 


fc 


<g 


o 

< 
< 


c 

> 
V 


13 

(0 


S 

V 

c 
— 'C 






1 




> 

— u 


2d 

S 01 




oo 


b 


MM 




09 

E 




o 




^0 




.s 
u 


H B — 

n (0 


O 
O 


Pi 


t 

m 

en 




«2 


C 


U 


Q. 




10 






s£ 


c^ 




00 


(A 

2 


< 


^0 




E 




— !c 




^ 


s 


»-i 




« 


S. 


< 


'c 

D. 

T3 

C 
r: 


+ 

c 
o 
u 

n 




.2 

3 


vd 


4-* 








2 

o 

— fc- 

o 

u 


.2 
o 

-c 

n 

u 

(I. 


•a 
c 

(9 
B 

■5 


E 
U 

E 
M 

« 

3 


o 


« 


< 




(A 


1 






£ 








b. 


< 


»J 




"S 




•c 




C4 




_a 










5 


6 


V 

B 

W 


c 
5 




c 


to 

It 
^-^ 

»-l 

Ht 


VO 




"n 


E.^ 








c 

•s 


CO 


c 


•a 

c 




t3 

B 


c 
.2 








if 








§ 


< 

O 


"to 
< 


a 
c 

■3 

u 


+ 
c 


a 

c 

•5 

u 
u 






c 










E 


< 


£ 


b 




b 


"3 

•a 

3 






-E 


o 






4^ 


o 






M 






OS 


E- 
[5t) 




i" 

r^ 








Ci 

:= 


c 




O 


c ^ 
• - li-l 






eI 




" 








o 


CQ 
•< 

X 

b 

o 


s 

o 

>. 

o 
K 


•a 

c 

3 
D3 


B 

-g 

•— > 

E 
f 


^1 


"u in 

V lO 




2 






a 

— u 

0) 

o 






(A 
O 

K 

• 


w 

O 


V 

3 
u 

3 


i- 

n 


ft 

+ 

E 


O, V 

E-^ 


.='1 

« o 


1 


1 

1 




1' 










K 




e" 


o 

VI 


w.s 


^- "13 


00 

lo 


~^ 




►- a. 










X 

H 

1 




X 
0) 

e 

n 

c 




E 

a 
X 

V 

■5 


jU o 


c 
a 


•-I 

a 


> 

c 

—a. 





2^ 

— a 
O 










rn 


J3 


'f^ 


u^ 










.9- 


O 


^ 


!c 


















B 

.2 


J3 — 




cu 


a, 


i><^ 


















'5 










^1^ 

o 9 2 
ti'-ii. 


















a 
2 










— c = 

< 




1^^. 











Chronological and Genealoo-ical Tables 



591 



< 



> ^ 



Z 1" 



U 



c 


u 







M-S. 


s 


Co 





EM 




x'^ 


X 












'C -«■ 




r fl 






S-^ 




%* ** 




td rt 




d-s 




c 


hJ 



a. 

OS 

Ml 






c 



O 



— >J -a 
u 
•o 

V 

V 

u 
u 

9 

M 




















s 
















is 














H- 


Ee. 


vd 













^ 














S « 


5 




u 























B 



iC 


1 




~ 









X 














K 










- 


S 






U) 
















bc 































s 












































w 
















« 















H 






























g 




























































H 






























OJ 






















si 








Cd 






















U 






, 


S 


















-^ 


— S 






1^ 























a-: -3 




^ 


« 
















n 




T- 







3 u 

C 






















u; HH 




Q, 


•- . a 


(« 










_o 


jT 




-j: 




5 






cc — 


^ 

^ 








-13 




5^' 


N 

1 


75 II 














K 




!< 




"2 




|~ 


y "p 






3 


u 






































:t 


u 




^ 




n, 


•£ ~ m 








H 










s 






5 




— 










w 
















c 




;j 


iC ' 








g 

E 


u 















1 




^ 


3 

Q 








c 


£ 


< 


























z 


7; 


Vm 


_; 
























< 




^ 







DO 
























K 


^ 


La 


+ 
























z 




bfl 


























< 























-•J? 








c 


^ 


















«>^ 








z 






















= = = 








^^ 




















Ja:^ 








h:) 
















^ 





















_^ 






(A 




II £S 


•6 






fA 










^ 


■/ 








r^ 






5 










< 


z^ 


□6 

00 


£ 


t 


- u o 








p« 








^ 


'0 


u- 


\^ 


■T. 1 

i; 00 


■=3 M 








» 
^ 








- 




3 



p. 

00 





30 


«^J 








1 










S 


u 




OS 

















>H 



J 


P 


CL, 


rt 


< 


7^ 


z 


?. >" 


^ 


-S"? 


c 


O \f\ 


z 




< 


U "^ 




C^ 


b 


(/I 


o 


•a u 


K 


^"5. 


«l 


c <2 


o 


JSZ 


(iu 


W 

H 






i:2 


£ 








.as 



•s 



6\ 



U 



J3 
O 



o 



c 

3 

to 



> 

z 

D 
O 
a: 

D 
P3 



O c 



01 

> 



a, 






«^ ^ 

15 

2 a- 

< rt 

a. w) 

< 3 



i 






3 

o 

> 



■5 = r5 ~ 



A- 



> = 



.a 
o 



3 
o 



o 



_ 3 - 

3 
< 



CL, 



a 
in 



3 
O 



>< S >i 

3 1£ !£ 
3 0. (^ 



n! 
U 



> 



-3-S- 

i-J rt 



•a 

a 



(^ 0^ 



o 



V "i: 



3, 0, 



o (X 

C50 — 



.-c- « * 



.a 



a 
U 



U 



S P 



o 

s 

00 '5 

OD . 
■» 3 

« rt 



S ^-5 



V 



a 
.c 






3 

Q 



c 
o 



a 
o 

"J 

X 

"a 

o 






3 U 

c o 

-I 8 

3 t) 



3 
O 



W 



bfl 


CO 


• o 


c 


w 


.4) CO 


rO 


C ^ 


'•2 

■a 


and. 
crown, I 






^ mj: 


. 




•H:Sy 


— 4- 


M 


™>~.> 


(— i ro 


» Ob 


— i « 


S 




5 + 


1 


^1 


I-] 



CI 



U 






n 
O 



- 1-. 

c 

V 

X 



. a 


C 


^ 




•- M 


(IS 


m 




'^Z 


-aj 






*T^ 


m 




" o 


o 


M 
1 




+ !;; 

-s 


o 

4J 


oo 




a a 


.J^ 


"— ' 




_c-tr 


3 

Q 






^S 


t> 


X 

(fl _ 


■•3 


3 






- 3 


_o 


U 


'5 


rt 


"S 
< 


o 


U 


60 








B 









Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



593 



w) O 

>• 00 







, 




c 






Ul 




nl 






> « 




o 






•*-? 

c* 




o 


* 




,^ - 




a> 


Cfl 


i> 




_rt 


^ 

3 


^ 

<; 

S 


u 

> 




< 


Q 
d 


o 


Ui 




O 


IS 


o 


M N 




P< 




c 




c 




^; 


V 


E 


< 




o 


3 








m 


C 


^ 


s 




[^ 


^ 


o 






S 




VO 


en 




o 


J3 


T 


i 






< 


c^ 

00 

in 




W 


-^^ 


~^ 




Z 


C 




• 




< 


C 
u 


> 


>< 




C 
03 


c 
o 


u _ 

C 
V 

X 


_ m 

'3 
o 




O 


3 








m 


o 








b. 


vi 








o 


o 








in 


^ 








C/3 


3 

Q 


















i-J 


>. 








o 


c 








X 










M 


< 












S- o. 






> 

_X 

CO" 

3 
O 



o 



bo 

(A 

n! 
C 
•S 
o 



a, 



o 
1-1 



— ' 


00 




a 




(J 


CO 


1) 






+ 


+ 






fa 


'*-' 








1 


(A 

c 






«^ 


k. 


m 


Oii 




hn 


o 


o 


° a 




r. 








i4 


V 


c 

3 


iiJ 




n. 


3 


a 


0^ 


*5 




U 




^•^'^ 


x: 


•o" 




.S" 


J 


a< 


a 


^ 


J3 


4-J 


in 




(1, 


fl( 


w 


-T - 


— o- 


_ y) _ 


_ t/i 




o 


fa 


3 


O 


>< 



0.-P 



°'E 

^ 0. 

.en 

o S 
^ a 

3 3 






* C3 



X 



o 

o . o 
^^ c 
E o o 

o 4) g 



>. 




•o 




c 












ho 


■* 


M 




3 




» 




(«-i 


r^ 


O 


•-• 


<u 




3 


> 


Q 


X 


' ^ 


r/) 


(fl 




3 


3 


n 





-J 


►4 



.c 
u 



c — 

3 
O 

U. 



■5 r,_<r. 
U 



> 



a 
o 



•a 

c 



3 

o 

03 



H 



> 



3 
O 
►J 



X S 



3 
O 






»; 



fa 

H 

< 

< 

o 
» 

fa 

o 



"' CO 

w ^ 

a 
a 



c-2 
Si 

V 

_S 

o 



_ c 

"o 
u 

a 
U 



3 






v- + B'S 






H c: c 3 

^. o s s a 

.SSK 03 

. 3 

o 



t. 3 



" 1^ u 

> a" 

g-rt 



o B H 
CO. 
^ jU + 

si" 

« <a 00 



03 



U 



fa 

.a -«■ 

- O 00 
3 " 






- ni- 

^; 

'3 
o 
•J 



O 3 



CO 



rt 



DO! 

4a. i! 






o 

i; E 

o 

-a - ~ 

03 

Z 

tc 

c 

O!^ 00 
bo CO . 

j= " m " 

a. ,/■ O" + 



o.o 



._; 


^ 


1— t 


3 


c 


Q 






u 


U 






0. 


iS 



594 



Chronological 



and Genealogical Tables 



o § 

P3 £ 

O > 



CD 



a 
o 

(A 

B 



W Ml 

> 



OS 

c 

H 

H 



•J 
K 

< 

u 

III 

X 

H 



S > 



£. 
b 



0) 

u 



- rt- 
U 
c 



00 

<7 



° s 

^ Q 



— u 



i-i I ^^ 



u 



•a 

c 
a 
a 



V 



-u — c- 



o 



•a 

9 



I -d 

" 'g- 

CO 2 

^ rt 

^ oo 

X o 

o " 

(0 CO 

- c "o 

o 'S 

< o 



U* 



— raj, 






e 

01 



l« 00 

3 O 

3 



Pi 
w 

o 

w 
o 

O 

w 

c/) 

o 

W 



CO 

en 

Pi 






5 



c 



W ^ 



tj — 

•a j< 
c *^ 

o c 

O lyi 



WO 



c 

3 

E 



O 



O 00 



6 e 
« .2 









W^ 



_j-s_l_?- 



bj) 

(3 

B 
Si 

o 



u 

u 
o 

V 

a 



u 

•a 



•o 



•o 

u 



•a 

a 
a 

-a 



3 

j2 



u 

o, 
B 

W 

c 
« 

6 

V 

O 



•a 

a 

c 

W 



3 
o 



vi S; 



+ e 

H = 

s ^ 



3 

3 
< 






E 

(4 



u 

u 

T3 



ta ta 



E ^ E 



i 1 ^ 



VO 

i 



u 

u 

•o 
u 



O 






Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



595 





V 




■5 








M 




•o 




c . 




a c 




>2^ 




^ « 




« > 




"Pw 




•H ^*- . 




hi o ^ 




\C . V 




"St? 




, 


phus 
ry pow 
, abdic 


■o 


c 




fu 


oiS^ 


Vm 


•o:s Y> 


o 


<-H 


•o 


c 


>.; ^ 


3 


>~» ^ 


g 


M n 


!& 


^ 1 




— rt *-• 


w 


3 « 


_o 


!2 'J^ 




2 -c 


"o 


O o 






a 




U 








o 
u 

3 



U 

'C 

u 
•o 

u 

II 

o 

c 
a 



— r: fa 



Q 


-8 


^ 


1 


< 


w 






< 


rt 


C/2 


r\ 


< 


> 


> 





o 

a. 



O 

X 



X 



a 

XI 

u 



o c 
.6:3 



1 



3 

o 



3 
Q. 



_U ^ 



X 

CD 
U 



X X 






CD 
O 






M 


r-^i 






►-I 


u o o\ 

1JJ= in 






•"H 


u 01 — 


c 


h;0 c 


r, 


'^''^-S 


o 

—1 


li-!? 




^"^•^ 




E «J 




St3 O 


. 


■SiS" 


CO 


Mt3'5 



CD 
O 



S 



> 

X 



u 



c 

o 



« 



<J 

u 

u 

■o- 

u 



3 

x: 

o 

•a 
< 



U 






o 
O 
c 

s 

o 



O -o 



o 



X 



U 






o 
■a 



ffl 



H 
^ > 
g X 

& s 

. « 

CO ^— ' 






»1 "O 

3 K 

-•a o 

< -= 



iJ m 



3 

o 



3 u 

> S 

n! o 

4-" TD 

3 C 



(J 

c 

u 

v 



.a 

c 
o 



X 






C N OO 



D 

I 

o 
< 



o 
w 

H + 

K r 

O " 

< e. 

H 
W 

u 
H 
P 
Q 

W 



^ 


C 










JJ 


C 


•a 


i*^ 


c 




rt 








M 




C 




W 





'a 
o 



S 



bo 

3 

n 

•a 

&^ 

n 

S 
II 



X 

u 



6 



^ ^ 



J3 



si £ 



o 

a, 
u 
•a 



t^ .5 



c 



" -• ■" ^ 



> 

E 
• a 



^ 


^ 


c 


u 










E 
— a 


E 










x: 


« 



^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 



a ^ 



111 



.a 



* 



596 



Chronological and Genealogical Tables 



a* 


■~' 


^ 


^ 


o 


1-^ 




CI 




c 

a 


XI 

— M 

N 


VO 

I^ 


O 


J3 


U 


(/I 


O 


nl 




u 



:^ 



o 



u 

O 

u 

~J3' 



0. 



o O, 

u 2 
•a " 

V o 

£9 

n _-• 

JZ o 
OS 



N 









p.; " 



- u u — '"' - 
1UJ3 "5 



•O T3 (9 

■^^ C — 

-rt_(0 — O 

tj (U ^ c* 

2 < < Z 



- o 

J3 






o 

U 



i) 
c 
a 

< 



4) m 

- C i 

CO o 

X Jo 

o - 



w 






CO 


c 




-A 


u 


V 

_ c 






VO 


j: 






« 


< 


V 


U 




kl 






o 






T3 






O 












J= 






H 







> 


a 


c 




01 




> 


H 



Q 

< 

-1 

O 

12; 
w 

I o 

W 
H 



CA 




o 








^ 


u 


V 




n 


r) 






m 





u-,' 


C 


li, 


2 
< 

s 


O 


— o - 


- 4J 
4-< 




E 


•o 


O 




a 




^ 






J3 



o 
o 
O 
u 



Qi 






Ck! 



be 



S "-fi- 



re 

« 



-o 

V 

— o 

01 

w 



W '^ 



B 
3 
E 

•a 



n 
W 



-v« 


1 




a« 










^ 







II 










C9 




u 


b 




O 


E 






u 




o o 


II 










(/; 




D N 


4J 




r£? 


U 




T3 " 




O 








► ^ f^ 



o 



•s 









i; °-o 



Is 

.t I-. 



^ r 

-n in 



•a 



M 



fii 



'ii 



- 4) 

•5 



Cliroiioloijical and GcncaloQ-ical Tables 



597 



z 

w 

X 

o 

H 
h 

w 

C 

o 
o 

< 
« 

o 
w 

H 



O 



a 



V 

a. 



•o 






V 



3 



o 
U 



1 m 

6 N 

o 

u » 

-3 -P 



a 



II 

3 



ir .° K 
c c 
"J <! 



6 






•a 

c 

- rt - 



a 
c 



s 


M 


c 


^ 




IT) 


r 1 


M 




>-< 


o 


m 


(1) 


C 


,:>: 


M 


3 


P. 


n 


O 




Oi 


•o 




nl 


o 




e 



f^3 









•T3 



— t- 

o 

o 



c 

CD 



m 



3 



3 
J3 



■s 









f^ 



^ o 



s c 



o 






■< 



(IS J J 

■T3.il "» 






3 . 

PR 



3 + 

o 



c 
o 



\ 





m 


VO 




13 




■* 


1 




f^ 




M 


M 










■d- 








> 


•^ 








>, 


t-4 








u 


> 








~ C ~ 


>> 








X 


C 








11 










u 










s 










rt 










u 










[K 










<4-l 










O 










u 










_c 




















'u 








\ 


a 








N 


^ 








\ 


\ 




CD 
ho 





^3 O '- 

■'a V " 

«7 



•V. " 

- j- u 

? 3 



o\ 



a 
< 



(ii E- 



> " 



J^ 



II- 

•o 

c 



CI 



J3 



> 

c 



•o 

3 

a 

3 

O 



a 

V 

u 

•o 





+ 


t3 




C 


§.■3 . 


^ 





0. a 






u 




o 

H 


(J oT ^ 


5 




" 1 


(11 




5 




.".CJ 


W 



— p « 

OOP 


to ^ 
,3 .• in 












H . 


•0 


C cJ ^ 


.U Zi 












s 


3 

H 
•0 


C 
< 








^ 








c 




t/. -- 3 






o 








3 




«•= u 


c 




§ 


J=' 




- a\ 


6 




c-if.S 


2 






u 




h o\ 


T3 




rt "" 


rt 

u 

(*« 

o 




•a 

c 

3 

e 

•a 


2 






S " 

■5 + 

. 

s-g — 


w 




0-3 

0) 1) 1- 

■n 5; j= 


U CO 


W 


-^ 







s =« • 


oil 

1 


3 

p 


m — 


II 
2 






^■2 




•a " 


'oJ 




o. 






OJo 




""^^ 


u 


g 

3 




















598 



Chronological and 



Genealogical Tables 



o 

H 
U 

z 

o 
u 

oi 

I— I 

X 
H 

O 



o 
ac 

> 
O 

< 
Q 

CO 

ci 
o 

Q 

H 
b 

O 

OT 

tn 

o 

K 

K 
H 



E 

o 






c 



•a 
c 



s 



- M 



3 
O 

a 
>, 

in 



a 

o 

« 

4) 



i. 



c- ^ 

•- 6 

u O 



>o 



?0- 



■ *o 



?. -< 



- V 

E - 



a 



•o " 



-rt J, 



o 
o 



> 



a 



i 



II— rt -io 

c 2S 



M 



<u 



bay 

3 5 



^ I— I 



c2^ 
a; 



dl 



a 



3 

ai 



M 






-' 


^ 


m 


*-4 


v 






3 

Q 


rt 


IM_ 


- Wl- 


-. iJ 


bL 


L. 
















O 


o 


rj 


O 


S 






u 


o 


u 


•o 




O 


O 


fa 


O 


M 


> 



o J2 



^S 



CD 

o 



to 


f. 


t) 


o 


E 


t^ 


(d 


^-^ 


•-1 


u 




— a 




a 




< 



in 



no 


^ 




bl 


t^ 0) 


M 


•n 


+ 


c 










•n 


L. 




1, 






-3 


-1 




o 



(-1 .-" 






tag 

u 
O 

O 



II .-3 



re "^ 



IS I 

fw.S 



oo 



INDEX 



Aachen, 94 

Abbassides, 188 

Abelard, 146, 168, 198 

Absolutism, growth of, in Europe, 
279 

Abu Bekr, 184, 188 

Abukir Bay, battle of, 500 

Acco, siege of, 200; taken by Mo- 
hammedans, 203 

Act of Settlement, 459 

Act of Supremacy, 331 ; abolished, 
336 ; restored, 340 

Act of Uniformity, 340, 413 

Adelaide, 97 

Adolph of Nassau, 249 

Adrianople, battle of, 23 ; peace of, 

.Alfred the Great, 70-72 

^thelberht, king of Kent, 31 

.-Ethelred the Redeless, 73 f. 

^thelstan, 72 

^thelwulf, 70 

^.tius, 25 ; defeats Attila, 26 

Agincourt, battle of, 239 

Aix-la Chapelle, peace of, 424, 451, 

46s 
Alamanni, 25, 44 
Alaric, 23 f. 
Alberic, 98 

Albigenses, 161, 162, 224 
Albornoz, 221 
Alcuin, 56 

Alexander 11., Pope, 80, 13S f. 
Alexander III., Pope, 152-6 
Alexander V., Pope, 271 
Alexander VI., Pope, 273, 292 



Alexander I. (Czar), 508 ff.; 530 
Alexander II. (Czar), 569, 572 
Alexander of Battenberg, 571 
Alexis (son of Peter), 439 
Alexius, 105, 195 
Ali Khalif, 184, 188 
Alsace, cession of, 388 ; to Ger- 
many, 558 
Alva, duke of, 352 ff. 
American Revolution, 467 
Amiens, Peace of, 503 
Andrew of Longjumeau, 208 
Angelo, Michel, 266 
Angles, 28 

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 72 
Anglo-Saxons, 28 ff. ; missionaries, 

127 
Anne, queen of England, 460 f. 
Anne of Austria, 420 

Anne Boleyn, 329 ; proclaimed 
queen, 330 ; execution of, 333 

Anne of Cleves, 333 

Anselm, 80, 83 

Antioch, 124, 195, 203 

Antoine, king of Navarre, 364, 367 

Arabic civilization, 189 ff. 

Arabs, 182 ff. 

Arcadius, 21 

Architecture, Arabic, 190 

Areola, battle of, 498 

Arianism, 33 

Aristotle, 190 

Armada, Spanish, 322, 345 

Arnold of Brescia, 156 ff., 198 

Arnold of Winkelried, 251 

Arnulf, 67, 91 



599 



ooo 



Index 



Art, Byzantine, 37 

Assembly, National. 477 ft".; Legis- 
lative, 483 ft: 

Assize of Clarendon, 234 

Athanasius, 174 

Athaulf, 173 

Athens, University of, 38 

Attila, 25 f. 

Augsburg, Diet of, 306 ; Confession 
of, 306 ; Religious Peace of, 309 

August the Strong (Poland), 437 

Augustine, sent to England, 31 

Augustine, St., 174 

Austerlitz, battle of, 506 

Austrasia, 45, 46 

Austria, 48, 248 ; Seven Years' War, 
452 ft".; War of Austrian Suc- 
cession, 449 ft". ; and French Revo- 
lution, 484, 496, 497. 506, 512, 
515 ; territorial reconstruction of, 
520 ; revolution of 1S48 in, 537, 
542 ft".; war of 1S66, 544 

Austrian Succession, war of, 449 ff. 

Austro-Hungary, 559 

Avars, 41, 48 

Avignon. 228, 270 f. 

Azov, Port of, acquired by Peter, 
433 

Bacon, Francis, 347 

Bagdad, seat of KhJifate, i38 

Baldwin I., 194, 196 

Balkan Peninsula, 567 fF. 

Bannockburn, battle of, 237 

Barneveld, 357 

Bastille, fall of, 478 

Batavian Republic, 495 

Battle of the Spurs, 327 

Bavaria, in Thirty Years' War, 379 

ff. ; favored by Napoleon, 506 
Bavarians, 42, 54 
Beaconsfield, Lord, 570 
Bede, 31 f. 

Bedford, Duke of, 239, 242 
Becket, Thomas, 235 
Begg;us (in Netherlands) 353 



Begging Friars, 167 

Belgium, 255 f ; ceded to France, 
498 ; revolution in, 528 f. 

Belisarius, 40 

Benedict II., 269 

Benedict of Anianc, 176 

Benedict of Nursia, 175 f. 

Benedictine rule, 176 f. 

Renevento, Duchy of, 42, 96 

Beowulf, 28 

Berengar of Friuli, 67 

Bernard of Clairvau.v, 144, 199 

Bertha of Kent, 31 

Besan(,xin Episode, 148 ff". 

Bill of Rights, 418 

Bishoprics, established by Karl the 
Great, 48 ; by Otto I., 96 

Bishops' Wars, 402 f 

Bismarck, Otto von, 553 ft"., 577 ft". 

Black Prince, 238 

Bl.mche of Castile, 225 

Blenheim, battle of, 429 

Blucher, Marshal, 517 

Boemund, 105, 194 fF. 

Boethius, 72, 190 

Bohemia, 48, 96, 99, 250, 252 ; and 
Thirty Years' War, 378 f. 

Bonaparte, Jerome, 50S 

Bonaparte, Joseph, 510 

Bonaparte, Louis, 505 ; see Na- 
poleon 

Boniface, 127 ff., 176 

Boniface VIII., 228. 268 f. 

Book of Common Prayer, 334. 340 

Bosnia, revolt of, 569 

Boso, 67 

Bosworth, battle of, 245, 295 

Bothwell, Earl of, 344 

Bourbon, House of, in Civil \\'ars. 
364 ; restoration of, 516 

Bouvines, battle of, 224 

Boyne, battle of the, 458 

Braganza, House of, 323 

Brandenburg, growth of, 389 ; see 
Prussia 

Brazil, 283 



Index 



60 1 



Breitenfeld, battle of, 385 

Bretigny, Treaty of, 239 

Hrille, taking of, 354 

Brissot, 489 

Britannia, 28 

Bruce, David, 238 

Brunhilda, 45 

Brunswick, duke of, 485 

Buckingham, duke of, 398, f. ; mur- 
der of, 400 

P>ulgaria, 569, 571 

I'ulgarians, 41 

Bund, the (German), 521, 545 

Bunyan, John, 419 

Burgundians, 24 f 

I5urgundy, 45, 67, 101, 253, 256; 
House of, 348 

Bute, Lord, 467 

Cabot, John, 284 

Caedmon, 28 

Cairo, 189 f. 

Calais, loss of, 337 

Calendar (republican), 494 

Calvin, 313 ff. 

Calvinism, spread of, 314 

Cambray, peace of, 306 

Campo Formio, peace of, 498 

Canning, 524 

Canossa, 141 

Capetian dynasty, 87 

Cappel, battle of, and peace of, 312 

Caracalla, 8 

Cardinals, 134 ; college of, 135, 142 

Carnot, 495, 497 

Cassiodorus, 176 

Castlereagh, Lord, 561 

Catalaunian Fields, 26 

Cateau-Cambresis, peace of, 351 

Catharine 11., of Russia, 440 f ; 455 

Catholic Relief Bill, 562 

Catholicism in England, 340, 414, 417 

Cavaliers, 404 

Cavour, 548 ff. 

Charles Albert of Sardinia, 540 

Charles Edward (Pretender), 464 



Charles L (Eng. ), 397 ff. ; flight from 
London, 404 ; surrender to Scots, 
406 ; beheaded, 408 

Charles IL (Eng.), 412 ff. ; and Louis 
XIV., 414; death of, 416 

Charles the Bald, 63 ff. 

Charles the Bold, 246, 253, 256 

Charles the Smiple, 84 f 

Charles L, of Roumania, 571 

Charles II., of Spain, 427 

Charles IV., of Spain, 510 

Charles V., Emperor, king of Spain, 
254, 295, 319 ; French-Spanish 
Wars, 305 ; crowned Emperor, 
306 ; war in Germany, 308 f ; ab- 
dicates, 310; and the Netherlands, 

349 f- 
Charles IV., of Bohemia, 250 
Charles IV., of France, 231 
Charles VI., Emperor, accession, 

429 ; death of. 448 
Charles VI., France, 239 
Charles VII., France, 239 ff. 
Charles VIII., France, 222, 246 
Charles IX., France, 3^, 367 f. 
Charles X., France, 526 
Charles XII., .Sweden, 436 ; in Po- 
land, 437 f. ; Pultava, 438 ; death 
of, 439 
China, 582 

Chioggia, battle of, 219 
Chivalry, 119 
Chlodvvig, 44 ft 
Christian IV. (Denmark), 381 
Christianity, 3 ff. ; legalized, 19 f ; 
in Ireland, 30 f. ; m England, 
31 ff. ; in Hungary, 257 ; in 
Poland, 257 f. 
Christina of Sweden, 386 
Christopher Columbus, 282 
Church, under Gratian, 21; Con- 
stantine and, 20; under Justinian, 
37 ff. ; in England. 31 ; and Chlod- 
wig, 44 ; under Karl the Great, 
51, 58 f. ; under Otto I. , 96 ; under 
Henry 111., 103 f. ; and feudalism, 



602 



Index 



III, 120; organization of, 123; 
conquest of the West, 126 f. ; 
worldliness of, 173 ; and Louis 
IX., 227; and Wyclif, 243; in 
Middle Age, 261 ; States of the, 
292, 541 

Cisalpine Republic, 498, 506 

Cities, 117; growth of, 209 ff. ; in 
Germany, 215 f. ; in Netherlands, 
255 f. ; in Italy, 217 ff. 

Civil Wars, England, 404 ff. ; 407 

Clarendon, constitutions of, 234 

Clement III., 155 f. 

Clement V., 228 ; at Avignon, 270 

Clergy, 120 ; celibacy of, 142 ; regu- 
lar and secular, 177 

Clermont, first crusade, 193 

Clive, Lord, 466 

Cluniac reforms, 98, 102, 177 f. 

Code Napoleon, 505 

Colbert, Jean, 422 

Colet, John, 325 f. 

Coligny, Gaspard de, 364 ; murder 
of, 369 

Colonies, Spanish, 283 ; English, 
284 ; French, 285 ; Dutch, 285 

Cqlumba, St., 30 

Commerce, 206 f., 211 

Committee of Public Safety, 490 ff. 

Commonwealth, creation of, 408 

Commune of Paris, 559 

Concordat, the (French), 504 

Conde, Prince of, 364 

Confederation of the Rhine, 506 

Congress of Berlin, 570 f. 

Congress of Laibach, 523 

Congress of Troppau, 523 

Congress of Verona, 523 

Congress of Vienna, 516, 519 

Conrad I., 92 

Conrad II., loi 

Conrad III., 144 f. , 199 

Conrad IV., 168 

Conradino, i68 f 

Constance of Sicily, 154 

Constance, Treaty of, 154 



Constantino, 19 ff 

Constitution of the year III., 496 

Consulate, the (French), 502 

Continental system, 509 ff. 

Convention (French), 487 ff. 

Corday, Charlotte, 491 

Corn Laws, repeal of, 563 f. 

Corporation Act, 413 

Corsica, 499 

Cortez, 320 

Cosenza, 23 

Council of Blood, 353, 355 

Council of NicEea, 125, 158 ; of Alt- 
heim, 92; of Sutri, 102; of Sar- 
dica, 125 ; of Constantinople, 125 ; 
ofChalcedon, 125; of Pavia, 131; 
of Worms, 138 ; of Clermont, 193 ; 
of Constance, 222, 252, 272 ; of 
Pisa, 271 ; of Basel, 272 ; of Trent, 

Counter-Reformation, 315 ff. 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 330, 334, 337 

Crecy, 238 

Crete, 581 

Crimean War, 547 f. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 405 ff ; Protector, 
410 ; death of, 411 

Cromwell, Richard, 412 

Cromwell, Thomas, 330, 332 

Crusade, Frederic I., 155, 199 f. ; 
first, 193 ff ; second, 198 f. ; third, 
199 f ; of Henry VI., 200; fourth, 
201 ; Children's, 202 ; last, 203 

Crusaders, 193 f. ; motives of, 194 

Crusades, 193 ff. 

Curials, 9 ff. 

Curia Regis, 233 

Custozza, battle of, 540, 551 

Cuthbert, St., 30 

Cyprus, 200, 203 

Dagobbrt, 46 
Damascus, 188, 199 
Danelaw, 71 
Danes, 13, 70 ff. ; 99 f. 
Danton, 486 ; death of, 493 



Index 



603 



Darnlcy, Lord, 344 
Declaration of Independence, 467 
Declaration of Indulgence, 415, 417 
Denmark, 256 ; accepts Lutheran- 
ism, 311 ; league with Poland and 
Russia, 436 ; and Schleswig, 538, 

553 
Desiderius, 48 
Diocletian's reform, 18 f. 
Dionysius Exiguus, 126 
Directory, 497 ff. 
Dissenters, 414 
Domesday Book, 232 
Dominic, St., 179 
Dominicans, 179 
Don John of Austria, 323, 356 
Do nothing kings, 46 
Dover, treaty of, 415, 424 
Dresden, peace of, 450 
Dryden, John, 419 
Dual Alliance, 578 
Dunstan, 73 
Dutch, in Netherlands, 348 ff.; wars 

with England, 411, 414, 415 f ; and 

Louis XIV., 424 ff. 
Dutch Colonies, 285, 360 
Dutch Republic, origin of, 356 

Eadgas Atheling, 81 
Eadmund, 70, 72 
Eadmund Ironside, '74 
Ecclesiastical Reservation, 309 
Ecgberht, 28, 69 f. 
Edessa, 196 f. 

Edict of Restitution, 382, 388 
Edict of Worms, 303 
Edward the Elder, 72 
Edward the Confessor, 75 
Edward I., 237 
Edv/ard II., 237 
Edward III., 231, 237 f. 
Edward IV. and V. , 239 
Edward VI., 333 f. 
Egmont, Count, 351, 353 
Egypt, Napoleon in, 500 
Einhard, 60 



Ekkehard, 99 

Eleanor of Aquitaine, 223 

Elizabeth, character, 338 f. ; religious 
policy, 339; and Mary Stuart, 
341 ff. 

Elizabeth of the Palatinate, 380 

Elizabeth of Russia, 455 

England, 28, 33 ; and the Norse- 
men, 69 ff.; after 1070, 232 ff; 
under the Tudors, 296 ; establish- 
ment of Church of, 334, 339 f. ; ex- 
pansion of life, 347 ; in seventeenth 
century, 395 ff. ; Commonwealth 
and Protectorate, 408 ff. ; restora- 
tion, 412 ff. ; under William and 
Mary. 457 ff. ; seven years' war, 
452 ff., 465 f ; and Ireland, 458, 
564 f.; war of Spanish Succession, 
428 {., 460; union with Scotland, 
461 ; and Napoleon, 499 ff. ; a 
world empire, 565, 574 f. 

Enzio, 167, 169 

Erasmus, 299 

Esthonians, 15 

Eugene, prince of Savoy, 428 

Europe, physical character of, 56 fE 

Fairfax, 406 
Fatima, 189 
Fawkes, Guy, 394 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 294 
Ferdinand I. (Emperor), 310 
Ferdinand II. (Emperor), 379 f. 
Ferdinand III. (Emperor), 387 f. 
Ferdinand (Brunswick), 466 
Ferdinand (Coburg), 571 
Ferdinand (Naples), 523 
Ferdinand VII. (Spain), 522 
Feudal armies, 113 ; dues, 113 f. 

justice, 115 ; society, 116 ; castles, 

120 
Feudalism, 107 ; origin of, 108 ; and 

the Church, in ; terms, in ; and 

serfs, 116; chivalry, 119; clergy, 

120 ; decay of, 121 
Fief, III 



6o4 



Index 



Finnic-Turkish tribes, 15 f. 

Floddcn Field, battle of, 327 

Florence, 220 f., 291 

France, 64 ; cities of, 209 fT. ; after 
1108, 223 ff. ; English wars with, 
237 ff. ; army of, 244 ; unification 
of, 245, 293 ; reformation in, 362 ff. ; 
under the Guises, 363 ff. ; war of 
the three Henries, 370 ; under 
Richelieu, 373 ff. ; in Thirty Years' 
War, 384, 386 ; under Louis XIV., 
421 ff. ; Seven Years' War, 452 ff. , 
465 f. ; in eighteenth century, 
469 ff. ; revolution, 475 ff. ; under 
Louis Philippe, 532 ff.; Second 
Republic, 535 ; under Napoleon 
IIL, 546 ff.; third republic, 558 

Francis L (France), 361 ; French- 
Spanish wars, 294, 305 f.; rivalry 
with Charles V., 361; a persecu- 
tor, 362 

PVancis II. (Emperor), 484, 503 

Francis II. (Naples), 550 

Francis II. (France), 363, 365 

Francis Joseph, 544, 560 

Francis, St., 178 f 

Franciscans, 178 f., 270 

Franco-Prussian W^ar, 557 ff. 

Franks, 13, 28, 44 ff. 

Fredegondc, 45 

Frederick I. (Emperor), 145 ff. 

Frederick II. (Emperor), 158 ff., 
230 ; crowned, 163 ; and the pa- 
pacy, 163 ff. ; in Sicily, 164 ; char- 
acter of, 167 ; on crusade, 163, 

20i 

Frederick L (Prussia), 446 

Frederick William, the Great Elec- 
tor, 444 ff. 

Frederick the Great, 448 ff. ; and 
Voltaire, 452 ; Seven Years' War, 

453 ff- 
Frederick William I. , 446 f. 
Frederick William II., 484 
Frederick William III., 508, 514 
Frederick William IV., 539, 544, 553 



Frederick of the Palatinate, 378 ; 

King of Roliemia, 380 ; and |ames 

I.,38of. 
Fricdland, battle of, 508 
P'rondc, the, 421 

Gambetta, 558 

Garibaldi, 542, 550 

Gaul, invasions of, 24 ff. 

Gefolge, 13 f. , 109 

Geiseric, 24 

Geneva, 313 ff. 

Genoa, 219 

George I., 461 

George II., 463 ■* 

George III., 467 

Gepidaj, 42 

Gerbert, 100, 191 

German Empire, Constitution of, 

558 
German, order of knights, 180 
German Parliament, 537 ff , 544 f 
Germans, 12 ff. ; reaction against, 

35 ff. 

Germany, 52 f. , 64 ; expansion of, 96 ; 
great interregnum in, 248 ; cities 
of, 215 f., 285 f ; reformation in, 
298 ff. ; Thirty Years' War, 376 ff ; 
and Congress of Vienna, 521 ; ef- 
fect of July revolution, 529 ; revo- 
lution of 1848 in, 537 ff ; unifica- 
tion of, 553 ff. 

Ghengis Khan, 189 

Ghibclline.s, 145, 154, 218 

Gibraltar, 530 

Gironde, 483, 484, 488 f. 

Gladstone, 565 

Godfrey of Bouillon, 194, 197 

Godwin, Earl, 75 

Golden Bull, 250 

Goths, 12 

Goths, East, 24 ; invade Italy, 27 ; 
kingdom destroyed, 27 f. 

Goths, West, 23 f. 

Gratian and the Church, 21 

Gravelotte, 557 



Index 



605 



Greek Revolution, 524 f. 

Gregory I., 31, 176 

Gregory II., 130 f. 

Gregory VII., 89, 105, 131, 136 ff., 

177, 198 
Gregory IX., 165 
Gregory X., 203 
Gregory XI., 271 
Grimoald, 46 
Grouchy, Marshal, 517 
Guelfs, 145, 154, 157, 218 
Guido of Spoleto, 67 
Guilds, 210, 213, 215 
Guise, duke Francis of, 363, 366 
Guise, Henry of, 368, 370 
Guizot, 533 f. 
Gunhild, 74 
Gunpowdc'r Plot, 394 
Gustavus Adolphus, 383 ff. 
Guthrum, 71 

Haurfan I., 59 
Hadri.in IV., 147 ff. 
Hampden, John, 402, 404 
Hanover, House of, 459 
Hapsburgs, 248 ff. ; two branches, 

310; and Richeheu, 374,378,386, 

388 
Hardenberg, 514 
Harold, elected king of England, 

76; and William, 80 f. 
Hebertists, 492 
Hegira, 184 
Heliand, 100 
Henrietta Maria, 397 
Henry I. (I-Lngland), 232 f. 
Henry II., 127, 233 ff , and Beket, 235 
Henry III. , 236 i. 
Henry IV., 237, 239 
Henry V., 237, 239 
Henry VI., 237, 239 
Henry VII., 245, 296 
Henry VIII., 325 f. ; foreign policy, 

327 ; marriages, 328, 333 ; head of 

church, 330 f ; protestantism of, 331 
Henry I. (France), 88 £ 



Henry II., 362, 363 

Henry III., 369 ff. 

Henry IV. (Henry of Navarre), 

367, 369 ff. ; abjures Protestantism, 

371 ; and House of Hapsburg, 

372 ; assassinated, 372 
Henry I. (Germany), 92 f. 
Henry II., loi 
Henry III., 102 f , no; and papacy, 

131 f. ; died. 134 
Henry IV., 103, 105, 134 ff. 
Henry V., 143 
Henry VI., 155 ff. , 200 
Henry VII., 249 
Henry the Lion, 145, 153 ff. 
Hermits, 173 

Ilildebrand, 133 ff. ; Pope, 136 
Hohenfriedberg, battle of, 450 
Hohenzollern, 252. See Prussia 
Holland, 255, province of, 356 f. ; 

becomes Batavian republic, 495 ; 

and Napoleon, 505 ; a breach 

with Belgium, 528 
Holy Alliance, 522 
Holy League, 289 ; (France), 369 ; 

(Germany), 377 
Holy Roman Empire, 285 ; disrup- 
tion, 388 ; end of, 507 
Honorius, Emperor, 21 
Ilonorius III., Pope, 163 
House of Commons, beginning of, 

237 ; separated from House of 

Lords, 241 
Hubertsburg, 455 
Hugo Capet, 86 f. 
Huguenots, 363 ff. ; and Edict of 

Nantes, 371 ; curbed, 373 
Humanists, German, 299; English, 

32s 
Hundred Days, the, 517 
Hundred Years' War, 237 ff 
Hungary, 95 f., 253, 257 f. ; in 1848, 

543 ; in 1867, 559 
Huns, 15, 23, 25 f. 
Huss, John, 252, 271 
Hutten, Ulrich von, 299 



6o6 



Index 



Il,LYUI.\, 23 

Independents, rise of, 406 

IndiiV, English win, 466 f. 

Indulgences, 300 

Innocent II., 144 

Innocent III., 158 ff., 201, 236 

Innocent IV., 176 ff., 268 

Inquisition, in Spain, 295 ; first 
organized, 318 ; in the Nether- 
lands, 350 f. 

Interregnum in Germany, 170, 248 

lolanthe, 163 

lona. Isle of, 30 

Ireland, 30 f., 127, 235 ; colonization 
of Ulster, 396 ; subdued by Crom- 
well, 409; Act of Union, 468; 
relation to England, 458 f., 564 f. 

Irene, Empress, 50 f., 58 

Irish Missionaries, 30, 127 

Ironsides, 405 

Isabella, 255 

Italy, in time of Otto I., 97 f. ; and 
Normans, 103 ; to 1494, 217 ff. ; 
and Renaissance, 267, 288 ff. ; 
and Holy Alliance, 520 f. ; July 
revolution in, 529 f. ; revolution of 
1848 in, 5S9 ff. ; unification of, 
548 ff. 

Ivan III., 258 

Jacobins (club), 480 
James I. (England), 392 ff. 
James II., 417 ff. ; in Ireland, 458 
James (Pretender), 462 
Jane Grey, 335 
Jeanne D'Arc, 240 f. 
Jena, battle of, 508 
Jerome, St., 174 

Jerusalem, 124 ; taken by Crusad- 
ers, 196 f., 199, 202 
Jesuits, 316 f. 

John of England, 163, 235 I. 
John XII. (Pope), 98 
Joseph I. (Emperor), 429 
Josephine (Empress), 505, 512 
Jourdan, 495, 497 



Jubilee of 1300, 269 
Julius II., 273, 292 
July Revolution, 326/. 
Justin I., 35 
Justin II., 42 
Justinian, 27, 35 ff. 
Jutes, 28 

Karlings, origin of, 46 ; last of, 92 

Karl the Great, 48 ff. ; as lawgiver 
and builder, 55 ; and learning, 
56 f. ; and the Church, 57 f. ; and 
Ecgberht, 69 ; and feudalism, 
108 f. ; and the papacy, 130 ; and 
the cities, 209 f. 

Karl the Fat, 67, 91 

Karl Martel, 47, 128, 130 

Kaunitz, 452 

Kellermann, 487 

Kelts, II f., 37 

Kerbogha, 195 f. 

Khaliffs, 188 

Knights of St. John, 180, 203 

Knights Templars, 180, 228 

Knights, German Order of, 180 f. 

Knox, John, 342 

Knut, 74 

Kolin, battle of, 453 

Koran, 186 

Kossuth, 543 

Kunersdorf, battle of, 454 

Lakavette, 477, 478, 479 

Lamartine, 535 

Lanfranc, 80 

Langton, Stephen, 160, 236 

La Rochelle, siege of, 374 

Lateran Council, i6i 

Laud, 401, 403 

Law of Suspects, 490 

Laws, Anglo-Sa.xon, 28, 72; codifi- 
cation of Roman, 36 

League, Hanseatic, 216 ; Rhenish, 
248 ; of Schmalkalden, 306, 308 ; 
Suabian, 216 

Lefebre, 362 



Index 



607 



Legislative Assembly (French), 

483 f. 

Legitimacy, principle of, 519 

Legnano, battle of, 154, 217 

Leicester, Earl of, 357 

Leipsic, battle of, 515 

Leo I., the Great (Pope), 126, 131 

Leo III., 49 f., 62, 135 

Leo IX., 104, 132 

Leo X., 273, 292 

Leo III. (Emperor), 130 

Leofric of Mercia, 75 f. 

Leopold II. (Emperor), 484 

Leopold of Belgium, 529 

Leopold of HohenzoUern, 556 

Lepanto, battle of, 322 f. 

Lesczinski, Stanislaus, 438 

Letts, 15, 170 

Leuthen, battle of, 454 

Leyden, siege of, 355 

Ligny, battle of, 517 

Ligurian Republic, 498, 503 

Lindesfarne, 30 

Lissa, battle of, 551 

Literature, of Middle Age, 261 ; 
Arabic, 191 ; in Germany, 99 

Liutprand, 99 

Lombard League, 153 

Lombards in Italy, 42 ; and Karl, 
48; and the papacy, 130 

Lombardy, 97, 145, 218, 220; ac- 
quired by Italy, 549 

Lorraine, 64 ; acquired by France, 
465; by Germany, 558 

Lothaire, 86 

Lothar, 63 ff. 

Lothar the Saxon, 143 f. 

Louis II., the Stammerer, 66 

Louis III., 66 

Louis IV. (d'Outremer), 86 

Louis VI., 90, 198, 223 

Louis VII., 198, 223 

Louis VIII., 225 

Louis IX., 203, 215, 225 ff., 231 

Louis XI., 222, 246 

Louis XI 1., 294 



Louis XIII., 373 

Louis XIV., accession, 421 ; per- 
sonal government of, 422 ; wars of, 
423 ff. 

Louis XV. , 464 f , 470 

Louis XVI., accession of, 475 ; calls 
States-General, 475 ; death, 488 

Louis XVII., 491, n. 

Louis XVIII., 516, 525 

Louis Napoleon, 536 

Louis Philippe, 527, 532 ff. 

Loyola, Ignatius, 315 f. 

Lubeck, Peace of, 381 

Ludwig of Bavaria, 249 f. , 270 

Ludwig the Child, 91 f. 

Ludwig the German, 62 ff. 

Ludwig the Pious, 62 f. 

Luneville, Peace of, 503 

Luther, Martin, 300 ff. 

Lutzen, battle of, 358, 515 

Machiavelli, 265 

MacMahon, Marshal, 557, 559 

Magdeburg, 95 ; sack of, 384 

Magellan, 282 

Magenta, battle of, 549 

Magna Charta, 236 

Magyars, 15, 93 ff., 170 

Maintenon, Madame de, 426 

Major Domos, 45 f. 

Malplaquet, battle of, 429 

Manfred, 68 

Marat, 486, 491 

Marco Polo, 208 

Marengo, battle of, 503 

Margaret of Valois, 367 

Maria Theresa, 448 ff. 

Marie Antoinette, 475 ; death of, 491 

Marie Louise (Empress), 512 

Marignano, Vjattle of, 294 

Marlborough, duke of, 428 f 

Marston Moor, battle of, 405 

Mary of Burgundy, 253, 256 

Mary of England, 335 ff , character 

of, 337 
Mary Stuart, 341 ff. ; execution of, 345 



6o8 



Index 



Mathematics, 190 f. 

Matilfia of England, 233 

Matilda of Scotland, 233 

Matilila of Tuscany, 139 

Matthias, Emperor, 378 

Maurice de Nassau, 358 

Maurice of Saxony, 308 f. 

Maximilian I., 253, 256, 285 ff. 

Maximilian, duke of Bavaria, 379 f. 

Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 556 

Mayfields, 53 

Mazarin, 420 f. 

Mazzini, 542 

Mecca, 183, 185. 

Medici, 221 ; Eorenzo de', 221, 291 

Medici, Catharine de', 363, 365, 368 

Medici, Marie de", 373 

Merovingian kings, 44 ff. 

Metternich and Napoleon, 515, 519, 

523 

Mexico, French in, 556 

Milan, 146; destroyed, 152; rebuilt, 
153 ; after 1300, 218, 220, 289 ; rises 
against Austria, 540 

Milton, John, 419 

Mirabeau, 477 ; death of, 481 

Missi Dominici, 54 

Missionaries, Anglo-Saxon, 127; 
Irish, 30, 127 

Mohammed, 182 ff. 

Mohammedanism, 185 ff ; Turkish, 
187 ; in Spain, 189 ; m Africa, 189 

Mohammedans, and Karl, 48 f ; in 
Sicily, 96 ; and Venetians, 201 ; 
reconquer Syria, 203 ; in Spam 
and Portugal, 254 ff ; in Balkan 
Peninsula, 258 f. 

Molhvitz, battle of, 449 

Moltke, von, 554, 557 

Monasteries, suppression of, 331 

Monasticism, 172 ff ; Cluniac pro- 
gramme, 177 ; benefits and faults 
of, 179 f. ; military monkish or- 
ders, 180 f. 

Monk, George, 412 

Monte Casino, 175 



Montenegro, 570 
Moors, 254 f. , 294, 324 
More, Sir Thomas, 326, 331 
Moreau, 497, 502 
Morgarten, battle of, 251 
Moscow, burning of, 513 
Mountain, the, 483, 486, 489 
Muhlberg, battle of, 308 
Murat, 511 



Nancy, battle of, 253 

Nantes, edict of, 371 f. ; revocation 
of, 426 

Naples, 222, 257 ; university, 167, 
289 ; revolution in, 523 ; acquired 
by Italy, 550 

Napoleon Bonaparte, and conven- 
tion, 496 ; in Italy, 497 f. ; P'irst 
Consul, 502 ; centralized adminis- 
tration, 504 ; Emperor, 505 ; and 
Prussia, 508 ; and Alexander, 
508 f. ; abdication of, 516 ; return 
from Elba, 517 

Napoleon II., 512 n. 

Napoleon III., 546 ff., 555 ff. 

Narses, 42 

Narva, battle of, 437 

Naseby, battle of, 406 

National Assembly (French), 476 ff 

National guard (French). 478 

National workshops, 535 f. 

Navarino, battle of, 524 

Navigation Act, 411 

Necker, 475 

Nelson. 500. 509 

Netherlands, 255 f. ; under House of 
Burgundy, 348 ; revolt of, 351 ff. ; 
seven united Provinces, 356 ff. ; 
Thirty Years' War, 358 ; declared 
free, 389 

Netherlands, Spanish, 360 ; war with 
Louis XIV., 423 

Neustria, 45 f 

Ney, marshal, 517 

Nibelungen lied, 24, 57 



Index 



609 



Nicasa, council of, 58 f. , 125 ; siege 

of, 195 

Nice, 550 

Nicholas I., Pope, 131 

Nicholas II., 104, 134 f. 

Nicholas, Czar, 524, 531, 547, 568 

Nimwegen, treaty of, 425 

Noricum, 23 

Normandy, 79 

Normans, in England, 75 ff. ; in It- 
aly, 104 flf. 

North German Confederation, 555 

Northmen (norsemen), in West 
Frankland, 66, 84 ; invade Eng- 
land, 69 f. ; pirates, 77 f ; charac- 
ter of, 77 ; in the East, 78 ; in the 
West, 79 ; in France, 79 

Northumberland, duke of, 334 f. 

Norway, 256 f. 

Norwegians, 13 

Nystadt, Treaty of, 439 

O'CoNNELL, Daniel, 562 

Odo, 67, 84 

Odovaker, 22, 26 f. 

Olaf, 73 

Omar, khalif, 184, 188 

Ommeiades, 188 f. 

Orange, house of, 353, n. ; rein- 
statement of, 424, 528 

Orestes, 22 

Orleans, regent, 464; duke of,492,527 

Osman Pasha, 570 

Othman, khalif, 184, 188 

Otto I., 94 ff. ; importance of his 
reign, 99 f ; and the papacy, 131 

Otto II., 100 

Otto III., 86 f., 100; and the papacy, 

131 
Otto IV., 167 f. 
Otto, king of Greece, 525 
O.xenstiern, chancellor, 386 
O.xford reformers, 267, 325 f. 

Pacification of Ghent, 355 
Palatinate, and Thirty Years' War, 
380 ; war of, 427 



Pannonia, 26, 27, 42 

Papacy, ninth and tenth centuries, 
96 f. ; reformed by Henry III., 
102 ; and William the Conqueror, 
83 ; and the Normans, 104 f ; 
origin and growth of, 123 ff. ; 
struggle with emperors, 134 ff. ; 
under Gregory VII., 136 ff. ; and 
Frederick I., 148 ff. ; concordat of 
Worms, 143 ; character changed, 
162; and Frederick II., 163; in- 
fluence of crusades, 205 ; at Avig- 
non, 270 ; secularization of, 221 ; 
struggle with Ludwig of Bava- 
ria, 249 f. ; after 1250, 268 ff. ; 
schism, 271 f. ; conciliar idea, 
271 f. 

Paris, peace of, 467. 516, 548 

Parlement, 227 ff. 

Parliament, 237, 241 ff. ; under Eliz- 
abeth, 339 ; under James, 394 ; 
under Charles, 397 ff. ; long, 
403 ff. ; cavalier, 413 ff. ; ascend- 
ency, 460 

Parma, duke of, 356, 358 

Partition treaty, the, 427 

Patriarch, office of, 124 

Patrick, St. 30 f 

Paulus Diaconus, 56 

Pavia, 42 ; battle of, 305 

Peasants' revolt (Germany), 304 f. 

Persia, 41 

Peter the Great, 432 ff. ; at Nerva, 
437 ; at Pultava, 438 

Peter III. (Russia), 455 

Peter the Hermit, 193 

Peter of Pisa, 56 

Petition of Right, 399 

Petrarch, 265 

Philip II. (France), 199, 223 f., 167 ; 
and John, 235 f. 

Phihp III., 227 f. 

Philip IV., 228 ff. ; and Boniface, 
268 f. ; and Clement V., 270 

Philip V. 231 

Phihp VI. 231 f., 238 



6io 



Index 



Philip of Anjou, 427 ; as Philip V., 
of Spain, 430 

Philip II. (Spain), 320 ff. ; war with 
Dutch, 322, 350 ff. ; armada, 322, 
345 ; acquires Portugal, 323 

Philip 111., 324 

Philip of Suabia, 159 

Pichegru, 495 

Piedmont, and Napoleon, 498; re- 
stored to Savoy, 521 

Pippin, 47, 128 ; and the papacy, 130 

Pippin the elder, 46 

Pippin the younger, 467 

Pitt,William, Earl of Chatham, 466 f. 

Pitt, William, the younger, 468 

Pius IX., 5+1 f. 

Plague, 241 

Plevna, battle of, 570 

Podesta, 218 

Poictiers, battle of, 238 

Poland, 257 f. ; anarchy of, 437, 441; 
partition of, 441, 456; revolution 
in, 530 f. 

Polish Succession, war of, 464 

Pompadour, Madame de, 466, 475 

Portugal, 255; falls to Spain, 323; 
and Xnpoleon, 510 

Pragmatic Sanction, 448 

Presbyterianism, origin of, 314 

Pride's Purge, 408 

Privileged orders, in France, 471 

Protestantism ; see Reformation 

Prussia, 96, 252 ; increase in power, 
444 ff. ; and French Revolution, 
484, 496; and Napoleon, 507 f. ; 
revival of, 514 ff. ; war of 1866, 
554 ; war of 1870, 556 ff. 

Prussians, 15 

Pultava, battle of, 438 

Puritans, origin of, 340 ; and James 
I., 393 f. ; and Charles I., 397, 406 

Pym, 404 

Pyrenees, treaty of, 421 

QuKBKC, capture of, 466 
Quiberon, battle of, 466 



Rastadt, peace of, 430 

Ratger, 24 

Ravenna, 43 

Raymond, Count of Toulouse, 194, 

196 
Reform Bills (England), 562 f. 
Reformation: in Germany, 298 ff. ; 

in France, 362 ff. ; in Switzerland, 

312 ff.; in Scandinavia, 311; in 

England, 330 ff. 
Reichstag, 559 
Rembrandt, 360 
Renaissance, in England, 245, 267 ; 

in Italy, 262 ; in France, 267, 278 
Requesens, 354 f. 
Restoration, the (English), 412 ff. 
Reuchlin, 299 

Revolutionary Tribunal, 490, 494 
Richard I., 157, 189 f., 235 
Richard II., 237, 239 
Richard III., 244 f., 267 
Richelieu, 373; enters thirty years' 

war, 386 
Rienzi, 221 

Rizzio, murder of, 344 
Robert I. (France), 85 
Robert II., 88 
Robert the Strong, 84 
Robert Guiscard, 104 f., 134, 142, 

195 
Robert II. of Sicily, 144 
Robespierre, 477 ; and Jacobins, 

480 ; and Committee of Public 

Safety, 490 ; fall of, 494 
Roland, Madame, 492 
Rolf, the Norman, 79 
Roman Empire, 8 ff. ; government 

divided, 21 
Romanoff, house of, 431 
Rome, sacked by West Goths, 23 f. ; 

church at, 124 f.; sack of, 305; 

republic, 540; acquired by Italy, 

557 
Romulus Augustulus, 22 
Roncaglian Diet, 145, 151 
Rossbach, battle of, 453 



Index 



6ii 



Rou mania, 569, 570 f. 

Roundheads, 404 

Rousseau, 474 

Rudolf, count, 67, 85 

Rudolf I. (Hapsburg), 248 f. 

Rudolf II., 377 

Rugians, 27 

Rugilas, 25 

Rump Parliament, 408 f. 

Rupert, 252 

Rupert, Prince, 405, 406 

Rurik, 78 

Russia, 258 ; under Peter, 433 ff. ; 
under Catharine II. ; 440 f ; and 
French Revolution, 508, 512 ; and 
Greek Revolution, 525 ; and Po- 
land, S30 f. ; and Crimean War, 
547 ; and Balkan Peninsula, 568 ff. 

Ryswick, peace of, 427 

Sadowa, battle of, 554 

St. Bartholomew, massacre of, 368 f. 

Saint Germain, peace of, 366 

St. Germain-en-Laye, treaty of, 446 

St. Just, 493 

Saladin, 189, 199 

San Germane, 164 

San Stephano, treaty of, 570 

San Yuste, 310 

Saracens in Sicily, 103 

Sardinia, 540 ; under Victor Em- 
manuel, 548 ff. 

Savonarola, 222, 291 

Savoy, 218, 292 ; acquired by 
France, 550 

Saxons, 28, 48 

Schamhorst. 514 

Schism, 271 f. 

Schleswig-Holstein, 538, 545, 553 

Scotland 30, 327 ; and Mary Stuart, 
341 ff. ; and Charles I.. 402 f. ; 
subdued by Cromwell, 409 ; union 
with England, 392, 461 

Sebastopol, 548 

Sedan, battle of, 557 

Sempach, 251 



Senators, 9 

Separatists, origin of, 341 

September massacres, 487 

Serfs, 116 

Servia, 569, 570 f. 

Seven Years' War, 453 ff. , 465 ff. 

Sforza family, 220 

Shakespeare, 347 

Ship-money ordinances, 401 f. 

Sicilian Vespers, 268 

Sicily, under Saracens, 103 ; under 
Normans, 104 ff. ; and Henry VI., 
157 ; under Frederick II., 164 f. 

Sigismund, 252 

Silesia, Frederick invades, 449 

Simon de Montfort, 237 

Slavs, 14 f., 48 f., 56, 96, 143, 170 

Socialists (French), 533, 535 f. 

Soissons, 47, 85 

Solferino, battle of, 549 

Solyman II., 257 

Somerset, duke of, 333 f. 

Sophia (Hanover), 459, 461 

Sophia, St., church of, 37 

Soult, marshal, 516 

Spain, 23, 254 f. ; unification of, 
294; under Charles I., 319 ; under 
Philip II., 320 ff. ; and Napoleon, 
510 f. ; revolution in, 522 

Spanish colonies, 283 f. 

Spanish Succession, war of, 427 ff. , 
460 

Spinoza, 360 

Spoleto, 42, 96 f. 

States of the Church, 292 

States-General, 229, 375, 475 f. 

Stein, 514 

Stephen of Blois, 193, 233 

Stephen IV., 62 

Stephen VI., 97 

Strafford, earl of, 401, 403 

Stralsund, siege of, 382 

Streltsi, the, 434 

Suevi, 24 

Suger, 223 

Sully, 372 



6l2 



Index 



Supreme Being, religion of, 494 

Sweden, 256 ; accepts Lutheranism, 
311 ; in Thirty Years' War, 383 
ff. ; under Charles XII., 435 ff. 

Swedes, 13 

Swein, 74 

Swein of Denmark, 82 

Swiss guards, 485 

Switzerland, 250 f. , 253 ; reforma- 
tion in, 312 ; independence of, 

389 
Sword Brothers, i8i 
Syagrius, 44 
Sylvester II., 100 

Tancred, 156 f. 

Tancred, 194 f. 

Tchuds, 15 

Terror, reign of, 490 ff. 

Test Act, 416; repealed, 561 

Tetzel, 300 

Teutonic Knights, 180 f. 

Thanes, 22 

Theoderick the Great, 27, 190 

Theodora, empress, 40 

Theodore of Tarsus, 32 

Theodosius, 21, 23 

Thermidoreans, rule of, 494 

Thiers, 533. 534, 559 

Third coalition, 506 

Third Estate, 230, 472 f. 

Thirty-nine articles, 334, 340 

Thuringia, 45 

Tilly. 381, 38s 

Tilsit, peace of, 508 f. 

Togrul Beg, 188, 193 

Toleration Act (England), 419 

Tories, origin of, 416 

Tours, battle of, 47 

Tower of London, 82 

Trafalgar, 509 

Transvaal, 579 

Trent, council of, 307, 317 

Tribonian, 36 

Triple Alliance, 577 

Tunnagc and Poundage, 400 f. 



Turanians, 15 

Turgot, 475 

Turks, 188, 192 f. , 202, 258 f.; and 
Venice, 290 ; in Germany, 207 ; 
war with Philip II., 322 f. ; war 
with Catharine, 490 ; war with 
Greeks, 524 f.; wars with Russia, 
525. 568 ff. 

Union, Protestant, 377 
Union of Utrecht, 356 
Ural-Altaic peoples, 15 
Urban II., 142, 193, 205 
Urban III., 156 
Urban VI., 271 
Utopia (More), 326 
Utrecht, peace of, 430 

Valens, 23 
Valmy, battle of, 487 
Vandals, 24 
Varennes, flight to, 482 
Vasa, house of, 311 
Vasco da Gama, 281 
Vassalage, 107 
Vassy, massacre of, 366 
Vatican library, 273 
Venetians, 105, 201 f. 
Venice, 201 f., 219, 290 ; rises against 
Austria, 540 ; acquired by Italy, 

551 
Verdun, treaty of, 63 f. 
Vergniaud, 489 
Versailles, peace of, 408 
Vervins, peace of, 372 
Victor Emmanuel II., 540, 548 ff. 
Vienna, congress of, 516, 519 f. 
Vinci, Leonardo da, 266 
Visconti family, 220 
Voltaire, 452, 474 
Voyages of discovery, 280 ff. 

Wagr.\m, battle of, 512 
Wales, 237 
Wallenstein, 381, 386 
Walpole, Sir Robert, 462 



Index 



613 



Wars of the Roses, 244 f. 

Warsaw, grand duchy of, 508 

Washington, 466, n. , 467 

Wat Tykr's Rebellion, 242 

Waterloo, battle of, 517 f. 

Wedmore, treaty of, 71 

Wellington, duke of, 516 ; in Spain, 
511 ; at Waterloo, 517 f., 561 f. 

Wentworth, Sir Thomas, 401 

Westphalia, peace of, 388 f. 

Whigs, origin of, 416 ; rule of, 462 

Whitby, council of, 31 

White Hill, battle of, 3S0 

Widukind, 99 

William I. , the Conqueror, 80 ff., 89, 
138, 142, 232 

William II., 232 

William of Holland, emperor, 167 

William of Orange, 351. 353 ff.; 
death of, 357 

William III., accession, 424 ; cham- 
pion of Europe, 426. See William 
and Mary 



Willfam I. (Prussia), 553 ff. ; em- 
peror, 558 

William and Mary, 418, 457 ff.; con- 
stitutional developments under, 
460 

Witenagemot, 73, 232 

Witt, John de, 423, 424 

Wolfe, 466 

Wolsey, Thomas, 327, 330 

Worcester, battle of, 409 

Worms, Council of, 138 ; concordat 
of, 143 ; diet of, 302 ; edict of, 303 

Wyclif, John, 243, 271 

York, House of, 295 
Yorktown, 467 

Zacharias, pope, 47 
Zenki, 197, 199 
Zeno, 22, 35 
Zorndorf, battle of, 454 
Zwingli, Ulrich, 312 



Longitude West lt>V»'om Greentrich. 



10 



£0)1. 



t F^ 





^^^/^i./^iv^ 5^^ \ fnj^^ 







After 507 the Kingdom of the AVest Goth? in Gat 




imited to a small soulhern strip (Seplininnia). 



Longitude 



E-.rnt & - from 




Ik 



I 



.\'- Loni/itude UVsf ^t'/rom Greenwich i)^ Longitude Eaut ._> from Grct'Tiuieh \' 




^ T L A IK Tic y)'^ AXooiMoiJ- 
OCEAN 



LA MAR CHE 



% 




LIMOUSIN 



Lyons. 



PERIGORD 

Ql'ERCY : 



Ul'VERGJjE „, 

N E 



.T O 



ViyARAIS 



UZES 



u ;,--t5' USE 



<:-i^-> 
^"{•■^V 



(' A S C O N Y PTiXfrouse 



'.' BEARX 



FKAXCE 

tl85. 



*farbonne o( 



Dominions directly governed brj Henry TI. 1 | 

Dominions dependent on Henry II, J ^ 

Dominions directly governed by King of FrancelLm^mMS^ 

Dominions dependent on King of France I I 

The M.-N. Cc.Bvffnlo.y. T. 



i«'- 



/ 



^l*' 



.<ff 



SCALE OF MILES. 

50 Ijj 

' ' ' ' I i I I I I I 

■I' 4 ' 



i Lu7ii/ituJe H'esf "2' from Grcevicich q' Lonnitude East 2^ from Greenwich ^^ 




Sect^siastical States in 1 I 
the lianda o/-Prf>t4stants I I 



of Catholics 




*rustestaiU Lay States I I 
at/,oJic -Do, □ 



JJuminiona of the two BrancTiea i j 
of the House of Auscfia i 1 




70 



EUROPE 

ILLUSTRATING WARS OF 
CHARLES XU X PKTEB THE GREAT 




ii 




J^ A N E A N 

The • 



4 NE A N t^ 



l.urij/iti. 



t 



LuniHtude £tut f,'^ from (Jree>ucic, 



Bouudary of OermaQ Coufederatiou, thus : „__ 

Prussia in 18X5, thus: 

Othur German Territory, thus: 



EUROPE 

after tlie Congress at Vienna, 
1815. 




Corsica' 



M E D I "p E R R A N E A N 

ti 

Lunyitxtdi 



A)/c 



^^ 



V ,<\ 



-r- 



'P. 



j- 

,0 



'"c- 



